Identification of specific problems and countermeasures targets for reducing alcohol related casualties

Police reports of accidents were analyzed in terms of accident characteristics and driver behaviors to determine the problems of drinking drivers. Analyses were conducted to profile the culpable drinkers and to compare them to culpable nondrinkers in terms of the nature of the accident generation, accident situations, and driver characteristics. In addition, driver drinking status and culpability were studied in conjunction with driver accident and conviction records. Major findings included listings of accident types for drinkers and comparisons to nondrinkers, extremely high culpability rates for drinkers, a propensity for drinkers to have accidents in low demand situations, an overrepresentation of the young among the drinkers (but somewhat less so than among the nondrinkers), and a higher proportion of drinkers in accidents among drivers with previous drinking convictions. Results also showed different problems for drinkers charged with drinking violations versus those who were not. /Abstract from report summary page/\n