Proceedings of the 1979 NCA Alcohol and Traffic Safety Session

NHTSA · 1979 · ROSA P / United States. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

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Summary

This document presents the proceedings of the 1979 National Council on Alcoholism (NCA) Alcohol and Traffic Safety Session, sponsored by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The collection addresses the diagnosis, referral, rehabilitation, and adjudication of individuals convicted of driving while intoxicated (DWI). It compiles research on the effectiveness of countermeasures for various demographics, including youthful offenders, senior adults, and social versus problem drinkers, alongside judicial perspectives and program evaluations. A central component of the proceedings is a comprehensive literature review by Moskowitz, Walker, and Gomberg regarding the characteristics of DWI drivers. The authors analyzed over 650 titles to compare DWI drivers against control drivers and individuals in alcoholism treatment. The study highlights that the convicted DWI population is not representative of the general drinking driver population due to selection biases in arrest and prosecution. However, the review establishes that DWI drivers are distinct alcohol abusers whose characteristics fall between those of control drivers and clinical alcoholics. Specifically, DWI drivers exhibit higher rates of unemployment, lower income, and lower educational attainment than control drivers, though they remain more socially integrated and employed than alcoholics. They report drinking more frequently and in larger quantities than controls, with beer as the preferred beverage, and often cite tension relief as a primary reason for drinking. The findings indicate that DWI drivers possess worse driving records than both control drivers and alcoholics, with higher frequencies of prior traffic violations, accidents, and suspended licenses. Psychosocially, DWI drivers show more neuroticism, depression, and suicide proclivity than controls, but less severe social disintegration than alcoholics. Diagnostic tools, such as the Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test, reveal that 54% to 74% of DWI drivers score indicative of problem drinking. The authors conclude that DWI drivers are likely chronic offenders rather than first-time violators, given the low probability of arrest. Consequently, they argue that DWI drivers require serious, comprehensive intervention to prevent progression to severe alcoholism, noting that early treatment for first offenders yields better prognoses than delayed treatment for multiple offenders. The proceedings also include reports on specific interventions, such as probation evaluations, mandated licensing actions, and prevention programs for youth and seniors, emphasizing the need for judicial involvement and effective rehabilitation strategies.

Key finding

Convicted DWI drivers are predominantly male, aged 30 to 45, with lower socioeconomic status and more severe drinking problems than control drivers, exhibiting behavioral trends that approach those of individuals in alcoholism treatment.

Methodology

review

Provenance

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Summary generated by qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant on 2026-06-10; verification: verified.

Topics

Ranked by relevance to this paper. Hover a topic for its definition.

• dui enforcement
• drowsy as impairment
• alcohol
• polydrug
• alcohol detection systems
• illicit drugs

Information type

What kind of knowledge this paper contributes, grouped by family — independent of topic (what it is about) and method (how it was studied).

• Applied Guidance: countermeasure evaluation
• Empirical Findings: observational prevalence