Driving After Drug or Alcohol Use

Technical Report Documentation Page

1. Report No.	2. Government Accession No.		3. Recipient's Catalog No.
4. Title and Subtitle Driving After Drug or Alcohol Use: Findings from the 1996 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse			5. Report Date December 1998
			6. Performing Organization Code
7. Author(s) Tara N. Townsend, Julie Lane, Carolyn S. Dewa, Angela M. Brittingham			8. Performing Organization Report No.
9. Performing Organization Name and Address National Opinion Research Center 1155 E. 60th Street Chicago, Illinois 60637			10. Work Unit No. (TRAIS)
			11. Contract or Grant No.
12. Sponsoring Agency Name and Address U.S. Department of Transportation National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Office of Research and Traffic Records Washington, DC 20590			13. Type of Report and Period Covered
			14. Sponsoring Agency Code
15. Supplementary Notes Paul Tremont, Ph.D. and Richard Compton, Ph.D. were the NHTSA project officers and Janet Greenblatt and Joe Gustin were the SAMHSA project officers for the Driving Behaviors Module.
16. Abstract This report contains findings from questions included in the 1996 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse (NHSDA). The data presented describe the prevalence and patterns of driving following drug use and/or alcohol use by 11,847 NHSDA respondents, representing over 166 million drivers age 16 and older in the United States. The analysis was limited to those age 16 and older who reported driving in the past year and answered the question on whether or not they drove within two hours after substance use. Five percent of drivers, representing approximately 8.9 million people, reported driving within two hours of drug use, with or without alcohol, in the past year. An additional 23 percent of drivers, representing approximately 39 million people, reported driving after alcohol use only. The data revealed that compared to those who reported drinking and driving, those who reported driving after drug use were generally younger (i.e., age 16-20) and more likely to be single, unemployed, have a lower annual personal income, and to have been on probation during the past year. More detailed data reveal that driving following marijuana use most commonly occurred on smaller roads, in urban areas, on weekends and began between 6:00pm and 11:59pm. The most commonly reported reasons for driving following marijuana use were that the drivers "had no other way to get there" and felt they were "not high enough to cause a crash." In fact, these drivers generally felt that marijuana did not affect their ability to drive safely or their likelihood of being stopped by the police. Finally, estimated blood alcohol concentration (BAC) levels were used as an indicator of level of impairment for those who drove following alcohol use. Drivers age 16-20 were more likely than drivers age 21 and older to have higher estimated BAC levels and female drivers over age 25 had higher average BAC levels than males of the same age.
17. Key Words national survey; drug use and driving; prevalence; patterns		18. Distribution Statement This document is available to the U.S. public through the National Technical Information Service Springfield, Virginia 22151 and the National Clearinghouse for Alcohol and Drug Information (NCADI), PO Box 2345, Rockville, Maryland 20847, 1-800-729-6686.
19. Security Classif. (of this report)	20. Security Classif. (of this page)		21. No. of Pages 119 pages	22. Price

Form DOT F 1700.7 (8-72) Reproduction of completed page authorized

OFFICE OF APPLIED STUDIES

Driving After Drug or Alcohol Use: Findings from the

1996 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

This page was last updated on June 16, 2008.

SAMHSA, an agency in the Department of Health and Human Services, is the Federal Government's lead agency for improving the quality and availability of substance abuse prevention, addiction treatment, and mental health services in the United States.