2007 National Roadside Survey of Alcohol and Drug Use by Drivers: Alcohol Results

This report presents the prevalence estimates for alcohol-involved driving derived from the recently completed U.S. national field survey of alcohol and drug use by drivers (primarily of nighttime weekend drivers, but also daytime Friday drivers) and compares those estimates with the three previous National Roadside Surveys. This survey involved randomly stopping drivers at 300 locations across the 48 contiguous United States. Data were collected during 2-hour Friday daytime sessions (9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. or 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.) at 60 locations and during four 2-hour nighttime periods (10 p.m. to midnight and 1 a.m. to 3 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays) at 240 locations. Both self-report and biological measures were taken. Biological measures included breath-alcohol measurements on 9,413 respondents, oral fluid samples from 7,719 respondents, and blood samples from 3,276 respondents. A prior report described the sampling plan and data collection methodology and summarized the response patterns to the various stages of the multipart survey. A third report, based on analyses of the oral fluid and blood specimens collected, will present the first national prevalence estimate of drug-involved driving and of alcohol-plus-drug-involved driving. This report focuses on the alcohol breath-test results and how they relate to previous national surveys. It also summarizes response patterns to survey questions and to an alcohol-use-disorder-screening instrument. The data indicate a continuing trend over the past three decades of fewer alcohol-involved drivers on the Nation’s roads during weekend nights.