Drinking and driving : sociological aspects : TARU 2/72

In providing the means for mobility for countless thousands of people in this highly urbanised and affluent society, the highway system must perforce cater for many individuals whose quality of performance is relatively low. This may be temporary or permanent, and precipitating factors can include inborne incompetence, age, illness, and most importantly of all, the ingestion of alcohol. Because alcoholic intoxication has emerged as the prime factor in increasing the risk of traffic crash, the combination of drinking and driving has not only become the subject of intense and careful study over recent years but has also precipitated in most motorized countries the introduction of a variety of legislative controls with the basic objective of reducing crash rates. A great deal of information still needs to be gathered, however, some preliminary data from a New South Wales study of drink-driving practices and attitudes are reported.