This paper presents some results of a study by the Addiction Research Foundation, Toronto, Canada, designed to examine the traffic accident risks of a clinical sample of drug abusers. It also examines the possible effects of the drugs used, their patterns of use, and demographic and personality factors. The participants were 144 volunteers from people being treated, or assessed for treatment, in Toronto. To be included, they had to: (1) be male; (2) be aged 21 to 40; (3) have first received a driving licence at least five years previously; (4) have driven at least 20,000 km for the past five years; (5) have a self-identified problem with alcohol and/or cannabis and/or a stimulant drug. Stepwise regression analyses were used to determine the factors most strongly associated with: (1) self-reported accidents; (2) accidents not under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs; (3) accidents under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs in the past five years. Male substance abusers in treatment were found to have twice the accident rate of Ontario males in general, and estimated that a half of their accidents in the past five years occurred under the influence of alcohol or drugs. Such accidents seemed different from accidents not under any such influence.
Abstract