Programs and policies for reducing alcohol-related motor vehicle deaths and injuries

Abstract

Despite significant reductions in the magnitude of the alcohol-crash problem, drinking and driving continues to present a major threat to the safety of all road users. Today a substantial portion of the problem involves a relatively small group of persistent drinking drivers referred to as “hard-core” offenders. The defining characteristics of this group are: they repeatedly drive after drinking; they often do so with high blood alcohol concentrations (BACs)—i.e., over 150 mg%; and they appear relatively resistant to changing this behavior. The profile of the hard-core drinking driver is that of a male age 25—44 who drinks heavily and exhibits a variety of antisocial and deviant behaviors in addition to drunken driving. Two promising countermeasure options for dealing with this hard-core group of drinking drivers— alcohol ignition interlocks, and assessment and rehabilitation—are presented.

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