Exploring the relationship between alcohol and the driver characteristics in motor vehicle accidents

    Authors

    M. A. Abdel-Aty;H. T. Abdelwahab

    Comments

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    Abbreviated Journal Title

    Accid. Anal. Prev.

    Keywords

    driver characteristics; alcohol; accidents; conditional probability; log-linear models; Ergonomics; Public, Environmental & Occupational Health; Social; Sciences, Interdisciplinary; Transportation

    Abstract

    This study examines the differences in alcohol-related accident involvement among different driver groups in the state of Florida. The driver characteristics considered in this study are: age, gender, race, and residency of the driver of a motor vehicle involved in an accident while under the influence of alcohol, drugs, or alcohol and drugs. The main objective of this study is to test whether there are associations between the different driver characteristics and alcohol involvement in traffic accidents, and to identify the high-risk group within each driver factor. This would improve our understanding of the relationship between alcohol involvement, accidents, and the four aforementioned driver factors. It would also enable us to better design educational and awareness programs targeting specific groups in the population to reduce drinking and driving in the state. The relationship between alcohol-related accident involvement and the driver factors are investigated using general descriptive statistics, conditional probabilities and log-linear models. The results showed that the 25-34 age group experience the highest rate of alcohol/drug involvement in accidents. The rates decline with the increase in the age of the drivers. The results also indicated that there are significant relationships between the driver characteristics and alcohol/drug involvement in accidents. Male, white, and in-state drivers were also more involved in alcohol/drugs-related traffic accidents. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

    Journal Title

    Accident Analysis and Prevention

    Volume

    32

    Issue/Number

    4

    Publication Date

    1-1-2000

    Document Type

    Article

    Language

    English

    First Page

    473

    Last Page

    482

    WOS Identifier

    WOS:000087501900001

    ISSN

    0001-4575

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