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NATIONAL
SURVEY OF DRINKING AND DRIVING
ATTITUDES AND BEHAVIORS, 2001
Since 1991,
the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has
conducted a nationally representative telephone survey every two
years to measure the current status of attitudes, knowledge, and
behavior of the general driving age public about drinking and
driving. These surveys track the nature and scope of the drinking-driving
problem (see TRAFFIC TECHS 89, 135, 192, 242). The Gallup Organization
conducted interviews with a national sample of 6,002 persons age
16 or older in the United States between November 3 and December
23, 2001. The findings suggest that despite the public’s
continued concern about drinking and driving, progress in a number
of key areas has slowed.
Drinking
and Driving Behavior
About 22% of the driving age public has driven a motor vehicle
within two hours of consuming alcoholic beverages in the past
year, about the same as in 1995. Males are more than twice as
likely to have driven within two hours of drinking as are females
(32% vs. 14%). Adults age 21 to 29 are the most likely to be drinker-drivers
(37% males and 20% female) driving within two hours of alcohol
consumption.
Drink-drivers
made between an estimated 809 million and 1 billion driving trips
within two hours of consuming alcohol in the previous year. This
is a decrease of about 5% from the 1999 estimate.
On average,
the drink-drivers consume 2.6 drinks within the two hours prior
to driving. When the amount of alcohol, timing of drinks, and
weight and gender of the drinker are taken into consideration,
2.6 drinks relates to an average blood alcohol concentration (BAC)
of .03. About 5% are estimated to have a BAC of .08 or higher.
This calculated BAC is slightly lower in 2001 than the .04 estimated
in 1999, but is similar to 1995 and 1997 estimates. Drinker-drivers
under age 21 consume an average of 5.1 drinks prior to driving.
While 16-20 year olds make only about 3% of all drinking-driving
trips their BAC levels are nearly three times that of legal age
drinkers.
Read
the Full Report (PDF)
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