Prevalence of alcohol and other psychoactive substances in drivers in general traffic. Part I: General results

Sjoerd Houwing, Marjan Hagenzieker, René Mathijssen, Inger Marie Bernhoft, Tove Hels, Kira Janstrup, Trudy Vander Linden, Sara-Ann Legrand, Alain Verstraete

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    Abstract

    DRUID (Driving under the Influence of Drugs, Alcohol and Medicines) aimed to combat the problem of driving under the influence of psychoactive substances by providing a solid scientific base for European policy makers. It brought together experienced organisations in Europe to assemble a coordinated set of data resources and measures. DRUID is an integrated European research project which consisted of different sub-projects (Work Packages) that were aimed at different topics such as the prevalence and risk of psychoactive substances, enforcement, classification of medicines, rehabilitation of offenders and withdrawal of driving licenses (www.druid-project.eu). The main objective of WP2 of DRUID was to assess the situation in Europe regarding the prevalence and risk of the use of illicit drugs, alcohol and psychoactive medicinal drugs by drivers. The main aim of this study was to obtain more insight in the use of psychoactive substances among drivers in European traffic. Thirteen countries participated in this study by conducting roadside surveys according to a general design. In total almost 50,000 randomly selected drivers participated between January 2007 and July 2009. All participating countries are members of the European Union (EU) except for Norway, which is associated with the European Union as a member of the European Economic Area (EEA). Participants, i.e. drivers of passenger cars and vans, were randomly selected using a stratified multistage sampling design. In the first stage, one or more regions per country were selected. These regions were meant to be representative for the country with regard to substance use and traffic distribution. Within the selected regions smaller research areas were selected, and within these areas, survey locations were selected, where subjects were stopped at random, and were requested to participate in the study. With regard to days of the week and times of the day, the study population sample was stratified into eight time periods over the week, for each of the survey areas. The time periods did not overlap each other and covered all the days of the week and all times of the day.
    Original languageEnglish
    Volume1: General results
    Number of pages173
    Publication statusPublished - 2011
    SeriesProject No. TREN-05-FP6TR-S07.61320-518404-DRUID

    Bibliographical note

    Project funded by the European Commission under the Transport RTD Programme of the 6th Framework Program
    DRUID. Driving under the Influence of Drugs, Alcohol and Medicines.

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