A How-to Guide for Conducting a Statewide Roadside Survey of Alcohol and Other Drugs [Traffic Tech]
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Summary
This document serves as a technical guide published by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to assist state officials, project managers, and researchers in conducting statewide roadside surveys of alcohol and drug prevalence among drivers. The guide addresses the critical need for accurate estimates of substance use while driving, which are essential components of impaired-driving programs. It clarifies that roadside surveys provide direct information on the presence of substances in drivers’ systems at a specific point in time, allowing for the measurement of prevalence and trends. However, the guide explicitly notes limitations: a positive test indicates substance presence but does not confirm impairment or estimate crash risk. The guide outlines a comprehensive framework for study execution, beginning with budget development and data collection planning. It details cost factors such as personnel, travel, and equipment, and provides instructions on determining appropriate sample sizes for meaningful statistical analysis. A significant portion of the methodology focuses on site selection, requiring careful scouting of locations across the state while prioritizing the safety of staff and participants. The guide emphasizes the necessity of coordinating with law enforcement and legal experts to establish protocols that ensure the data collection is strictly for traffic safety research, not for arresting drivers. It also addresses toxicology testing procedures, including the identification of drugs commonly of interest in impaired-driving research. Operational protocols are described in detail, covering logistics such as equipment transport, data collector interactions with the public, and handling risky situations, such as ensuring impaired drivers reach home safely. The guide stresses the importance of standardizing protocols across all locations while maintaining flexibility for unforeseen events. It includes customizable examples of driver interaction language and consent forms to ensure compliance with state legal concerns and participant privacy. Regarding data analysis, the guide illustrates how to present results using standard statistical methods and confidence intervals, cautioning against interpreting data beyond what the evidence supports. The significance of this guide lies in its role as a primer for implementing quality statewide studies, particularly in contexts such as post-legalization of recreational cannabis. It underscores that while the guide provides extensive detail, it is only a starting point; states must develop specific parameters in consultation with experts and stakeholders to comply with federal, state, and local laws. By providing a structured approach to complex logistical challenges, the guide aims to enable states to generate reliable data on alcohol and drug prevalence, thereby supporting evidence-based traffic safety policies.
Key finding
The document is a procedural guide rather than a research study, providing methodological instructions for conducting statewide roadside surveys to estimate driver drug and alcohol prevalence.
Methodology
other
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 (6 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 | — | — | — | 2 | 2026-06-10 |
Summary generated by qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant on 2026-06-10; verification: verified.
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Information type
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- Empirical Findings: observational prevalence
- Methodological Resource: dataset resource, validation psychometrics