The Netherlands Transport Research Centre (AVV) has been yearly carrying out research into drink driving since 1999. In this report, the research itself and the alcohol consumption of motorists during weekend nights are discussed. The results presented compare the years 1999-2004. Each year, AVV has carried out circa 70 alcohol checks in close collaboration with the police, spread over 25 police districts. To obtain a representative picture of drink driving for the Netherlands, each police district has to do at least two checks. The total sample must be at least 20,000 motorists tested. The alcohol checks include a random sample of motorists driving during the nights of Friday to Saturday (Friday night) and Saturday to Sunday (Saturday night) between 22.00 h and 04.00 h. A person is in breach of the law when the blood alcohol concentration (BAC) limit is above 0.5 promille. The results showed a significant reduction in the percentage of legal limit offenders: from 3.7% in 2003 to 3.4 % in 2004. In addition to the national results, alcohol consumption has also been examined at a more detailed level. In 1999-2004, the percentage of male offenders was higher than that of female offenders. For both men and women the highest percentage of offenders belonged to the 35-49 age category. Classified according to age and sex, only the group of 18-24 year-old women showed an increase (slight) in the number of offenders in 2004 compared to 2003. There were more offenders on Friday night than on Saturday night during the study period. The highest percentage of offenders was found between 02.00 h and 04.00 h. In 2004, the decrease of the percentage of offenders in this time period was the strongest of all periods. In 1999-2004, the highest percentage of offenders came from catering establishments.
Abstract