ALCOHOLISM AND FATAL ACCIDENTS

OF 72 DRIVERS RESPONSIBLE FOR FATAL ACCIDENTS 40 PER CENT WERE ALCOHOLICS, 10 PER CENT WERE PRE-ALCOHOLIC, AND 50 PER CENT WERE NON-ALCOHOLIC AND 64 PER CENT /46 DRIVERS OF THE 72 TESTED/ WERE KNOWN TO HAVE BEEN DRINKING PRIOR TO THE FATAL ACCIDENT. MANY OF THE 29 ALCOHOLIC DRIVERS HAD A LONG HISTORY OF SERIOUS PSYCHOPATHOLOGY. THEY WERE FREQUENTLY PARANOID, VIOLENT, DEPRESSED AND SUICIDAL. HOWEVER, A LOWER NUMBER OF THE NON-ALCOHOLIC DRIVERS ALSO DISPLAYED PSYCHOPATHIC TENDENCIES. RECORDS REVEALED THAT 45 PER CENT OF THE ALCOHOLICS HAD AT LEAST ONE PRIOR ARREST FOR DRUNK DRIVING AND THREE HAD HAD THEIR LICENSES REVOKED. THE ALCOHOLIC DRIVERS WERE RESPONSIBLE FOR SIGNIFICANTLY MORE PRIOR SERIOUS ACCIDENTS AND MOVING TRAFFIC VIOLATIONS THAN THE NON-ALCOHOLIC DRIVERS. THIS STUDY DEMONSTRATES THAT AN IDENTIFIABLE GROUP OF ALCOHOLIC DRIVERS WERE RESPONSIBLE FOR APPROXIMATELY ONE-HALF OF THE FATAL ACCIDENTS. A LARGE PROPORTION OF THE NON-ALCOHOLIC DRIVERS WERE IN THE 16-21 AGE GROUP /29 PER CENT/ AND THE LARGEST WAS THAT OF THE ALCOHOLICS /41 PER CENT, 22-30 YEARS/. /CGRA/

• Supplemental Notes:
  • Vol12, No 3, PP 11-19, 4 TAB, 11 REF
• Corporate Authors:

  Alcohol & Drug Addiction Res Fdn /Can

  ,    
• Authors:
  • SELZER, M L
  • WEISS, S
• Publication Date: 1965

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Age; Arrests; Crash causes; Crash rates; Driver licenses; Driver performance; Drivers; Drunk drivers; Drunk driving; Fatalities; Human characteristics; Personnel performance; Probation; Problem drivers; Psychological aspects; Randomization; Social factors; Studies; Traffic conviction; Traffic crashes
• Uncontrolled Terms: Driver characteristics; Responsibilities
• Old TRIS Terms: Psycholigical aspects
• Subject Areas: Data and Information Technology; Highways; Law; Safety and Human Factors; Society;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00219810
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Oct 17 1994 12:00AM