Since May 1983, any driver who was convicted of repeated serious drinking offences has been categorised as a High Risk Offender, and has had to pass a medical examination in order to regain his or her licence at the end of the disqualification period. On 1 June 1990, the criteria for becoming a High Risk Offender were extended. In this article data from DVLA driver licensing records is examined to see how many drivers have become HRO's since then and to learn something of their characteristics. Almost 41,000 drivers became HRO's in the first 12 months; the cumulative total had risen to 103,000 by 1 March 1993, although the rate of new HRO's has fallen by 7.1% per year. The great majority are men, with the peak age for becoming an HRO of 27; by contrast, the peak age is 21 for men who are convicted of less serious drink/drive offences (i.e. they do not become HRO's). For women, the peak ages are 32 and 26 respectively. Forty one per cent of Scottish drink/drive offenders are HRO's. The percentage is lower elsewhere, and is lowest (36%) in South West England. About half of HRO's have been disqualified from driving for three years, with two-fifths having shorter disqualifications and one-tenth longer disqualifications. The length of disqualification depends strongly on the driver's record of previous convictions; the mean is 21 months for drivers with no previous convictions but over twice as long for those with three or more. (A) For the covering abstract of the book see IRRD 859639.
Samenvatting