Prevalence of alcohol-impaired drivers based on random breath tests in a roadside survey

Manuela Alcañiz (), Montserrat Guillen, Daniel Sánchez-Moscona, Miguel Santolino (), Oscar Llatje and Lluís Ramon
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Manuela Alcañiz: Faculty of Economics, University of Barcelona
Daniel Sánchez-Moscona: Catalan Traffic Authority
Miguel Santolino: Faculty of Economics, University of Barcelona
Oscar Llatje: Catalan Traffic Authority
Lluís Ramon: Catalan Traffic Authority

No 201313, IREA Working Papers from University of Barcelona, Research Institute of Applied Economics

Abstract: Sobriety checkpoints are not usually randomly located by traffic authorities. As such, information provided by non-random alcohol tests cannot be used to infer the characteristics of the general driving population. In this paper a case study is presented in which the prevalence of alcohol-impaired driving is estimated for the general population of drivers. A stratified probabilistic sample was designed to represent vehicles circulating in non-urban areas of Catalonia (Spain), a region characterized by its complex transportation network and dense traffic around the metropolis of Barcelona. Random breath alcohol concentration tests were performed during spring 2012 on 7,596 drivers. The estimated prevalence of alcohol-impaired drivers was 1.29%, which is roughly a third of the rate obtained in non-random tests. Higher rates were found on weekends (1.90% on Saturdays, 4.29% on Sundays) and especially at night. The rate is higher for men (1.45%) than for women (0.64%) and the percentage of positive outcomes shows an increasing pattern with age. In vehicles with two occupants, the proportion of alcohol-impaired drivers is estimated at 2.62%, but when the driver was alone the rate drops to 0.84%, which might reflect the socialization of drinking habits. The results are compared with outcomes in previous surveys, showing a decreasing trend in the prevalence of alcohol-impaired drivers over time.

Keywords: Breath alcohol concentration; blood alcohol content; drunk driving; sampling analysis; weights; substance abuse. JEL classification: (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 37 pages
Date: 2013-07, Revised 2013-07
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dem, nep-hea and nep-tre
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Working Paper: Prevalence of alcohol-impaired drivers based on random breath tests in a roadside survey (2013)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ira:wpaper:201313

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