Citation

Keall MD, Frith WJ. Proc. Int. Counc. Alcohol Drugs Traffic Safety Conf. 1997; 1997: 401-408.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1997, The author(s) and the Council, Publisher International Council on Alcohol, Drugs and Traffic Safety)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

In 1995 alcohol contributed to 32.3% of New Zealand's fatal traffic crashes and 18.1% of injury crashes (Land Transport Safety Authority, 1996). Although these proportions are large, the role of alcohol in crashes has decreased over the last seven years (Ibid). Alcohol consumption generally has also decreased (Statistics NZ, 1997). The term "drink driving" is used here to mean driving while over the legal breath alcohol limit. This is 400 micron g/L for drivers 20 years old and over, and 150 micron g/L for drivers under 20 years. THe lower limit for young drivers is a response to their greater crash risk at low alcohol levels (Mayhew, 1993). This paper uses information from a travel survey and two roadside alcohol surveys to study drink driving behaviour and comment on its implications for countermeasure strategy.