2013–2014 National Roadside Study of Alcohol and Drug Use by Drivers: Alcohol Results

This report describes the alcohol results from the 2013–2014 National Roadside Survey (NRS), a national field study to estimate the prevalence of alcohol-, drug-, and alcohol-plus-drug-involved driving, primarily among nighttime weekend drivers, but also daytime Friday drivers. This study involved a random sample of drivers at 300 locations across the continental United States. The sites were selected through a stratified random sampling procedure. Data was collected during one 2-hour Friday daytime session (either 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. or 1:30 to 3:30 p.m.) at 60 locations and during four 2-hour nighttime periods (10 p.m. to midnight and 1 to 3 a.m. on both Friday and Saturday nights) at 240 locations. Data included observational and biological samples. Biological samples included breath-alcohol measurements from 9,455 respondents, oral fluid samples from 7,881 respondents, and blood samples from 4,686 respondents. This report focuses on the alcohol breath-test results, presents the 2013−2014 prevalence estimates for alcohol-involved driving, and compares them with the four previous NRS studies. The data indicates a continuing trend of decreasing alcohol-involved driving on U.S. roads during weekend nights over the five NRS studies, including a large change in the percentage of drivers who were alcohol positive, from 36.1% in 1973 to 8.3% in 2013-2014, and an 80% reduction in the percentage of drivers with breath alcohol concentrations (BrACs) of .08 grams per deciliter (g/dL) and higher, from 7.5% in 1973 to 1.5% in 2013-2014.

• Dataset URL:
  https://doi.org/10.21949/1529966
• Record URL:
  https://one.nhtsa.gov/staticfiles/nti/pdf/812362_2013-2014NRSAlcoholReport.pdf
• Record URL:
  https://www.nhtsa.gov/sites/nhtsa.dot.gov/files/documents/812362_2013-2014_nrs_alcoholresults.pdf
• 
• Record URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/2084
• Dataset URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/73058
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Supporting dataset available at: https://doi.org/10.21949/1529966;https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/73058
• Corporate Authors:

  Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation

  11720 Beltsville Drive, Ste 900
  Calverton, MD  United States  20705-3111

  National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

  Office of Behavioral Safety Research, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Authors:
  • Ramirez, Anthony
  • Berning, Amy
  • Kelley-Baker, Tara
  • Lacey, John H
  • Yao, Julie
  • Tippetts, A Scott
  • Scherer, Michael
  • Carr, Katherine
  • Pell, Karen
  • Compton, Richard
• Publication Date: 2016-12

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Edition: Final Report
• Features: Appendices; Figures; Maps; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 76p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Alcohol breath tests; Drunk drivers; Drunk driving; Field studies; Night; Trend (Statistics); Weekends
• Identifier Terms: National Roadside Survey
• Geographic Terms: United States
• Subject Areas: Highways; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01624264
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: DOT HS 812 362
• Contract Numbers: DTNH22-11-C-00216L
• Files: HSL, NTL, TRIS, ATRI, USDOT
• Created Date: Jan 27 2017 9:28AM