Drinking-driving patterns at night : baseline roadside survey of the Fairfax Alcohol Safety Action Project.
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Summary
This report presents the findings of a baseline roadside survey conducted in Fairfax, Virginia, to establish pre-intervention levels of nighttime drinking and driving. The study was part of the Fairfax Alcohol Safety Action Project (ASAP), an initiative funded by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration aimed at reducing alcohol-related traffic fatalities through enforcement, education, and treatment programs. The primary objective was to quantify the incidence of driving while under the influence of alcohol prior to the implementation of ASAP countermeasures, providing a benchmark for future evaluation. The survey was conducted over eleven nights in January 1972, prior to the project's February launch. Researchers sampled 1,577 drivers across three distinct nighttime periods (7:00–9:20 PM, 9:50 PM–12:10 AM, and 12:40–3:00 AM) at various sites within five police jurisdictions. Police officers stopped vehicles at random, and coordinators secured voluntary participation. Participants provided breath samples analyzed via an Intoximeter Mark II gas chromatograph to determine blood alcohol concentration (BAC) and completed a 25-question questionnaire covering demographics, driving habits, and alcohol consumption. The sample included 838 weekday drivers and 739 weekend drivers. The results indicated that 83.4% of drivers consumed alcohol, and 26.4% registered positive BAC levels. Specifically, 4.2% of drivers had a BAC at or above 0.10% (the presumptive limit for impaired driving), while 0.2% exceeded the 0.15% limit for drunken driving. Drinking prevalence increased significantly later in the night; during the 12:40 AM–3:00 AM period, 51.2% of drivers had positive BACs, and 12.4% were above 0.10%, compared to 1.6% in the earliest period. While weekend drivers consumed alcohol more frequently than weekday drivers, there was no significant difference in the proportion of drunken drivers between the two groups. Demographic analysis revealed that drivers aged 30–39 were significantly overrepresented among those with high BACs, while those under 20 were underrepresented. Male drivers were significantly more likely to be drunk than females (5.1% vs. 0.7%), and black drivers showed higher rates of drunkenness than white drivers (11.0% vs. 3.9%). Additionally, drunkenness correlated positively with annual mileage driven, and beer drinkers were significantly more likely to be intoxicated than wine or liquor drinkers. Public knowledge of legal BAC limits was low, with only 19% of drivers correctly identifying the limit. The study establishes a critical baseline for evaluating the efficacy of the Fairfax ASAP. It highlights that late-night hours and specific demographic groups, particularly males and moderate-to-high mileage drivers, represent higher-risk segments for alcohol-impaired driving. The data also underscores a significant gap in public understanding of legal intoxication limits, suggesting that educational components of the ASAP are necessary alongside enforcement. These findings provide the empirical foundation for measuring the project's success in reducing alcohol-related crashes and influencing driver behavior over the subsequent three years.
Key finding
4.2% of sampled drivers had blood alcohol concentrations at or above 0.10%, with the highest incidence occurring between 12:40 a.m. and 3:00 a.m. and among drivers aged 30-39 who drove more than 30,000 miles annually.
Methodology
naturalistic
Sample size: 1577
Provenance
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| Stage | Outcome | Tool | Model | Prompt | Attempts | Completed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| verify | success | — | — | — | 2 | 2026-06-10 |
Summary generated by qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant on 2026-06-10; verification: verified.
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- Empirical Findings: observational prevalence