In this report, the findings obtained from a national postal survey of drivers sampled from the DVLC records held at Swansea are presented. The mailing to 2000 drivers took place in Novembre 1988, with reminders sent out in early December, before the Department of Transport's Christmas drink drive publicity campaign. Two pilot surveys had been conducted prior to the survey, to test the questionnaire content, design and layout. The 1500 replies were analyses for information on: (1) details of licences held and annual mileage driven; (2) attitudes of all respondents towards all aspects of drinking and driving; (3) frequency of drinking, driving away from home, and drinking and driving; (4) amount of alcohol consumed, number of times of driving over the legal limit, and problems of limiting alcohol intakes; (5) attitudes of the drinking driver; (6) awareness of the penalties for conviction, and the role of alcohol in road traffic accidents and fatalities; (7) breathanalyser experience; (8) accident history and prosecutions for road traffic offences; and (9) age, sex, social class of driver. Implications of the findings for countermeasures aimed at reducing drinking and driving are also discussed.
Abstract