Abstract
Drinking and driving in combination represent a major public health problem and young people suffer disproportionately high rates of morbidity and mortality as a result of drunken driving. The problem can be defined as one of personal responsibility and choice or as the product of a system of complex interactions of causal factors. Countermeasures may be based on either the individual responsibility view or the societal approach. The paper examines both types of countermeasures together with the results from improving highway design and increasing vehicle crashworthiness. Mention is also made of the role of biological and personality factors in accidents.