Changes in the incidence of drunk driving in the United States, 1973-1986.

In the fall of 1973 the first U.S. national roadside breathtesting survey was carried out on weekend nights from 10 P.M. to 3 A.M. This survey found one out of twenty drivers on American roads at these hours to have a BAC of . 10% or more. A second national roadside breathtesting survey was carried out in the spring of 1986, mostly in the same locations as in 1973. This paper reports the results of this new survey and compares them with the results of the 1973 survey in order to provide new evidence as to where the United States currently stands in its "war against drunk drivers".