The prevalence of alcohol and drugs in blood samples from drivers involved in non-fatal accidents has been investigated. In 62.9 percent of the blood samples, alcohol was found either alone or together with drugs, in 24.1 percent of the cases drugs were found alone or with alcohol, and 11.2 percent of the samples contained both alcohol and drugs. The most prevalent drugs were benzodiazepines, cannabis, opiates and amphetamine. In about three quarters of the drug positive samples the concentration was so high that it was considered likely that the driver was influenced by drugs. It was estimated that at least 2.7 percent of the drivers involved in injury accidents have significant concentrations of drugs and alcohol in their blood and are not detected. As for other comparable studies, our results showed that the accident risk increases rapidly with increasing blood alcohol concentration (BAC). The prevalence of use of benzodiazepines, cannabis and amphetamine among drivers was estimated. Comparing these estimates with the results from our study, showed that drivers who use cannabis, amphetamine or high doses of benzodiazepines run a considerable risk of being involved in an injury accident, comparable to BAC levels of O.l - 0.15 percent. (A)
Samenvatting