Citation

Kornaczewski A. Proc. Int. Counc. Alcohol Drugs Traffic Safety Conf. 1974; 1974: 239-247.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1974, The author(s) and the Council, Publisher International Council on Alcohol, Drugs and Traffic Safety)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The study showed that alcoholics have a distinctive pattern of offences. They were significantly more likely than controls to be convicted of offences relating to drink-driving, danagerous driving, accidents, unlicensed driving and illegal use of motor vehicles. This pattern of offences extended to convicted drinking drivers and suggested that alcohol was an unrecognized faster in more serious offences. The repetition of drink-driving and serious offences (which were relatively uncommon) and the frequent high BACs of the drivers involved indicated that many of these drivers often drove while intoxicated. The determination of the BACs of the persons involved in these offences together with this pattern of offences should be used as a screening device to identify problem drinkers for subsequent treatment. License withdrawal was shown to be an ineffective answer because of the continued convictions of these drivers. The criminal records helped indicate that while alcohol was a factor in traffic offences there were other factors involved as shown by the different number of records among the alcoholics. The correlation between types of traffic convictions and criminal records, and the similarity of the types of offences among a driver's convictions, suggested that many drivers frequently drive or act in that manner. This needs to be taken into account by authorities dealing with prevention measures. (Author)