The prevalence of alcohol use disorders among night-time weekend drivers

Aims: The objective of this study was to establish the extent of alcohol use disorders (AUDs) among drivers at risk for alcohol-related crashes. The prevalence of drivers with AUDs on U.S. roads on weekend evenings when alcohol-related crashes are most frequent is unknown. This study will inform laws and programs designed to reduce alcohol-involved crashes. Design: Interviews using a 15-item AUD questionnaire with a stratified random sample of noncommercial drivers at 60 primary sampling locations in the 48 contiguous states on Fridays and Saturdays between 10 PM and 3 AM from July to November 2007. Setting: Off-road locations into which a police officer directed a random selection of motorist passing the site. Participants: 4614 drivers of noncommercial vehicles. Measurements: AUDs, including heavy drinking, alcohol abuse, and alcohol dependence. Findings: Seventy-four percent of the participating drivers were current drinkers (reported drinking in the last year). Among those drinkers, 14% were classifiable either as dependent drinkers or as abusive drinkers based on self-reports of drinking. Another 10% of the drivers were classified as heavy drinkers. Forty-six percent of the drivers in the survey who had BACs at or higher than the 0.08 grams per deciliter legal limit fell into one of those three AUD categories. Conclusions: Survey data suggest that the majority of high-BAC drivers on U.S. roads show no clinical signs of an alcohol use disorder, but they are categorized as heavy drinkers. This suggests that environmental programs directed at reducing heavy drinking and brief behavioral interventions aimed at reducing episodes of excessive consumption have promise for reducing alcohol-related crashes. Language: en