This report of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) was prepared to update the state-of-knowledge about alcohol and highway safety. It is the fourth in a series of NHTSA-sponsored reviews of this field. Its focus is on new developments and trends in the field. It is concerned with documents published from January, 1983, through November 1989, but is more than a literature review in that it attempts a more extensive than usual synthesis of current knowledge and, in some instances, develops new data and performs additional analyses to help fill gaps or answer questions about the methods or results of a study. Over 2,000 documents were identified in the course of the literature search, and 756 were retained as references. There are six chapters. Chapter 1 is an introduction. Chapters 2 through 5 deal respectively with the nature of the drunk driving problem, the effect of alcohol on the human body and driving performance, the characteristics of persons who drink and drive, and programs designed to reduce the incidence or consequences of drinking-driving. The report's major conclusions and its recommendations for research are given in Chapter 6. (A)
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