Abstract
The extent of alcohol and drug abuse among rural college students is identified and its effect upon road traffic accidents is examined, Data was obtained from a sample population of rural college students enrolled in four small institutions. Approximately 600 randomly chosen students were interviewed and asked to fill in questionnaires, 459 of which were completed. Subjects consisted of 226 male and 233 female students. All of those sampled had experimented with alcohol and half of them has taken drugs. Although the effect of socio-economic characteristics upon alcohol and drug consumption proved to be negligible, more frequent users came from lower income families. Nearly 3/4 of the sample observations reported “sometimes” driving after drinking and/or taking drugs. Close to 1/2 of the total sample had experienced at least one road traffic accident, 4/10 and 1/10 of which were alcohol and drug-related, respectively.
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