Citation

Pikkarainen J, Penttilae A. Proc. Int. Counc. Alcohol Drugs Traffic Safety Conf. 1981; 1981: 288-299.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1981, The author(s) and the Council, Publisher International Council on Alcohol, Drugs and Traffic Safety)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

It is generally assumed that a significant proportion of the drunken drivers suffer from alcoholism. However, this assumption is difficult to verify because of lack of suitable methods. An attempt was made to estimate the extent of alcoholism among almost 400 consecutive drunken drivers. The information given by the driver was checked against the data from the files of the social welfare (bureau of alcohol and drug abuse) and against some chemical tests related to alcohol abuse. In 18% of the cases aspartate aminotransferase, in 21% alanine aminotransferase, in 18% gamma-glutamyltranspeptidase activity and in 16% serum urate concentration were increased. About half of the cases showed drinking of at least one bottle of liquor (about 150 g ethanol) at the same time mainly during weekends. However, only 13% ingested alcohol every or every second day. About one third of the drivers was previously arrested for drunkenness and punished for driving while intoxicated. The reliability of the laboratory results and their correlation with those obtained by interview and from the official files in revealing alcohol abuse are discussed. The present results indicate that heavy drinking is a common problem among arrested drunken drivers in Finland. (TRRL)