In cooperation with 36 control teams of the police, SWOV Institute for Road Safety Research carried out a study into the use of alcohol by drivers in six Dutch provinces: Groningen, Gelderland, North and South Holland, and North Brabant. The investigation, executed on Friday and Saturday nights in the period between September and December 1991, is a continuation of the national investigations into drinking and driving behaviour conducted between the years 1971 and 1989. Compared with these previous investigations, the design of this study was greatly changed. The most important goal of the new design was to get a greater sample of drivers in order to provide conclusions both on a national and on a provincial level. This was realised by holding no extensive interviews among drivers who were stopped. The ultimate sample consisted of 8716 drivers. It appears from the study that the number of drivers with a legal blood alcohol content (BAC) limit (equal to or more than 0.5 per cent) has approximately been halved since 1989. The recorded accidents involving alcohol use and the accompanying fatalities and injuries have been reduced less than might be expected from studies among drivers carried out by SWOV. This discrepancy can mainly be explained by a presumably strong increase of the detection and registration of alcohol use by drivers at accidents. Besides, the development of alcohol use among drivers in week-end nights presumably did not appear to be completely representative of such a development among all the road users each day and at all times of the year 1991. The highest percentages of drunken drivers in the autumn of 1991 were found: (1) among men between 35 and 50 years of age; (2) in municipalities with more than 50,000 inhabitants; (3) in the provinces of North and South Holland; and (4) after midnight. A continuation and enhancement, wherever possible, of the policy conducted so far regarding the use of alcohol in traffic are recommended.
Abstract