Fact Sheet: National Roadside Survey of Alcohol and Drug Use by Drivers
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Summary
This fact sheet summarizes the findings of the National Roadside Survey of Alcohol and Drug Use by Drivers, a long-term study conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). The survey, first initiated in 1973 and repeated in 1986, 1996, 2007, and 2013–2014, aims to monitor trends in substance use among drivers across the United States. The study design involves collecting data from 300 roadside sites nationwide. Participation is strictly voluntary and anonymous, with drivers alerted by road signs to the presence of a paid survey ahead. To ensure safety and ethical compliance, drivers identified as too impaired to drive safely are provided with alternative transportation home; notably, over 40 years and more than 30,000 participants, no identified impaired driver has left the site or been arrested. While alcohol testing has been a component since the beginning, testing for illegal drugs, prescription medicines, and over-the-counter drugs was introduced for the first time in the 2007 survey cycle. The primary findings reveal diverging trends in alcohol and drug use among drivers. Alcohol-impaired driving has significantly decreased over time. From 2007 to 2014, the proportion of drivers with measurable alcohol levels declined by approximately 30 percent, a reduction observed across all alcohol concentration levels. Since the survey’s inception in 1973, the prevalence of alcohol among drivers has dropped by nearly 80 percent. Specifically, in 2014, only about 1.5 percent of weekend nighttime drivers had a breath alcohol concentration (BrAC) of .08 or higher, which is the legal limit for intoxication in most jurisdictions. Overall, about 8.3 percent of drivers in 2014 had any measurable alcohol in their systems. In contrast, the survey indicates a rising trend in drugged driving. In 2014, approximately 20.0 percent of drivers tested positive for at least one drug, an increase from 16.3 percent in 2007. Marijuana use showed a particularly sharp rise, with 12.6 percent of drivers testing positive in 2014 compared to 8.6 percent in 2007. Furthermore, more than 15 percent of drivers tested positive for at least one illegal drug in 2014, up from 12 percent in 2007. These statistics highlight a shift in the nature of impaired driving, where alcohol prevalence is declining while drug use, particularly marijuana, is becoming more common among drivers. The significance of these findings lies in their implication for public safety policy and enforcement strategies. The data suggests that while efforts to reduce alcohol-impaired driving have been effective over the past four decades, attention must increasingly shift toward drug-impaired driving. The rising prevalence of marijuana and other drugs in drivers’ systems indicates a growing public health challenge that may require updated detection methods, legal frameworks, and prevention campaigns distinct from those used for alcohol. The survey provides critical, evidence-based data for policymakers to understand the evolving landscape of driver impairment.
Key finding
From 2007 to 2014 the share of drivers with measurable alcohol fell about 30 percent while drug-positive drivers rose from 16.3 to 20.0 percent and marijuana evidence rose from 8.6 to 12.6 percent.
Methodology
survey
Provenance
The full processing record for this entry. Every stage of this paper's journey through the pipeline is logged — what ran, with which tool and model, how many attempts it took, and when it last completed. Discovered via bulk_ingest_rosap on 2026-05-23 (10 acquisition events logged).
| Stage | Outcome | Tool | Model | Prompt | Attempts | Completed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| discover | success | rosap | — | — | 2 | 2026-05-23 |
| archive | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-05-23 |
| extract | success | cached | — | — | 2 | 2026-06-10 |
| clean | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-01 |
| chunk | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-01 |
| embed | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-02 |
| enrich | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-05-23 |
| promote | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-05-23 |
| summarize | success | llm | qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant | summ-v5 | 3 | 2026-06-10 |
| tag | success | vector_similarity | — | — | 19 | 2026-06-11 |
| verify | success | — | — | — | 6 | 2026-06-10 |
Summary generated by qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant on 2026-06-10; verification: verified.
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- Empirical Findings: observational prevalence