Over the last four decades, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and/or the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) conducted four national surveys to estimate the prevalence of drinking and driving in the United States (Wolfe, 1974; Lund & Wolfe, 1991; Voas et al, 1998; Compton & Berning, 2009; Lacey et al, 2009). The first National Roadside Survey (NRS) was conducted in 1973, followed by national surveys of drivers in 1986, 1996, 2007, and now 2013—2014. These surveys used a stratified random sample of weekend night-time drivers in the contiguous 48 States and collected data directly from drivers on the road. The 2007 NRS added procedures to the NRS for the first time to estimate the use by drivers of other potentially impairing drugs. Prior roadside surveys had only collected breath samples to determine breath alcohol concentration (BrAC). Due to developments in analytical toxicology, NHTSA determined it would be feasible in the 2007 and 2013—2014 surveys to determine driver use of a variety of potentially impairing drugs including illegal drugs as well as legal medications. In 2013—2014, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration conducted the most recent National Roadside Survey of Alcohol and Drug Use by Drivers.1 This voluntary and anonymous study is the second to collect data on drug use, presenting our first opportunity to examine drug use trends on a national scale. The 2013— 2014 NRS was designed to produce national estimates of alcohol and drug use by weekday daytime and weekend night-time drivers. Thus, the use rates presented below are national prevalence rates calculated from the percentage of drivers using alcohol or drugs and adjusted with an appropriate weighting scheme. (Author/publisher)
Samenvatting