2013–2014 National Roadside Study of Alcohol and Drug Use by Drivers: Alcohol Results
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Summary
This report presents the alcohol findings from the 2013–2014 National Roadside Survey (NRS), the fifth in a series of studies conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to estimate the prevalence of alcohol-involved driving in the United States. The study was motivated by the need to track long-term trends in impaired driving and evaluate the effectiveness of safety interventions over time. By comparing current data with four previous NRS studies dating back to 1973, the research aims to determine whether the historical decline in alcohol-positive driving has continued. The study employed a stratified random sampling design across 300 locations in the 48 contiguous states, targeting non-commercial vehicle operators, including motorcyclists. Data collection occurred during one 2-hour Friday daytime session and four 2-hour weekend nighttime sessions (Friday and Saturday, 10 p.m.–midnight and 1 a.m.–3 a.m.). Researchers collected observational data and biological samples, including breath alcohol concentrations (BrAC) from 9,455 drivers, oral fluid from 7,881, and blood from 4,686. The analysis focused on BrAC results to estimate prevalence rates and compare them against prior decades, utilizing statistical weighting to ensure national representativeness. The results indicate a continuing, statistically significant decline in alcohol-involved driving among weekend nighttime drivers. The percentage of drivers with a BrAC of .005 g/dL or higher dropped from 36.1% in 1973 to 8.3% in 2013–2014, representing a 77% relative reduction. Similarly, the proportion of drivers with illegal BrAC levels (≥ .08 g/dL) decreased from 7.5% in 1973 to 1.5% in 2013–2014, an 80% relative reduction. While the decline from 2007 to 2013–2014 was not statistically significant for illegal BrAC levels, the overall long-term trend remains significant. Alcohol prevalence was significantly higher during weekend nights (8.3% positive) than during weekday daytime hours (1.1% positive). Significant reductions in illegal BrAC were observed specifically among drivers aged 21–34 and those 65 and older. Motorcyclists and pickup truck drivers exhibited significantly higher rates of illegal BrAC compared to other vehicle types. The findings suggest that public health efforts and enforcement strategies have contributed to a sustained reduction in drinking and driving over four decades. The prevalence of alcohol-involved driving among general drivers continues to decrease, paralleling trends in fatal crash data. However, the stability of fatal crash rates involving high BAC drivers despite the drop in general prevalence highlights ongoing risks. The study confirms that while overall impairment has declined, specific demographics and vehicle types remain at higher risk, indicating areas for continued safety focus.
Key finding
In 2013–2014, 8.3% of weekend nighttime drivers tested positive for alcohol and 1.5% had breath alcohol concentrations of 0.08 g/dL or higher, reflecting an 80% reduction in the latter metric since 1973.
Methodology
field_study
Sample size: 9455
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, crash risk outcomes
- Methodological Resource: dataset resource