The road accidents rate of alcoholics even when sober is much higher than that of other groups of drivers (Smart and Waller 1969). The advent of sophisticated breath and blood testing techniques has meant that measures of blood alcohol can replace subjective assessments. Drivers need no longer be described in terms of drunken behaviour but their involvements in traffic accidents and offences can be related to the blood or breath alcohol measures. Currently attention is turning towards attempts to influence drinking drivers. The first task is to recognize and assess the ways in which problem drinking drivers differ from the population as a whole. Ultimately, methods of altering the behaviour of this group of deviant drinking drivers must be identified and/ or developed.
Abstract