A How-to Guide for Conducting a Statewide Roadside Survey of Alcohol and Other Drugs

Thomas, F Dennis; Berning, Amy; Blomberg, Richard D.; Graham, Lindsey A.; Darrah, Jenna R; Tippets, A Scott · 2022 · ROSA P / United States. Department of Transportation. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

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Summary

This document serves as a comprehensive technical guide for state officials, project managers, and researchers on conducting statewide roadside surveys to estimate the prevalence of alcohol and other drug use among drivers. Published by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) in 2022, the guide addresses the critical need for valid, objective data on impaired driving to inform countermeasure programs. It clarifies that while roadside prevalence studies provide snapshots of drug presence in drivers’ systems, they do not measure crash risk or drug involvement in crashes, which require different methodologies such as case-control studies or crash scene investigations. The guide emphasizes that these surveys are most appropriate for determining the proportion of drivers testing positive for specific substances during defined time periods. The methodology outlined in the guide follows an eight-step process, drawing on NHTSA’s experience with National Roadside Surveys and a specific study in Washington State regarding cannabis legalization. Key steps include defining study objectives, developing a budget, selecting drugs of interest, and coordinating with toxicology laboratories. The guide details the selection of biological samples—breath, oral fluid, or blood—based on research needs and invasiveness. For instance, blood offers the most accurate representation of drug levels but is more costly and invasive, while oral fluid is less invasive and suitable for presence/absence determinations. The document provides detailed budget estimates, noting that a one-time statewide study collecting oral fluid samples costs approximately $340,000, whereas a blood-based study costs roughly $427,000, covering labor, laboratory fees, participant payments, and equipment. The guide specifies protocols for data collection, including site selection across urban, suburban, and rural environments, and the use of trained teams comprising managers, safety officers, and data collectors. It highlights the importance of rigorous toxicology testing, which involves initial screening followed by confirmation testing to identify specific drugs and metabolites, such as THC, opioids, and sedatives. The document also addresses logistical challenges, such as handling impaired drivers and ensuring participant anonymity. By providing templates for consent forms, safety protocols, and data analysis plans, the guide aims to standardize the conduct of these surveys to ensure data validity and reliability. The significance of this guide lies in its role as a primer for implementing high-quality, representative studies that can inform public policy and highway safety initiatives. It underscores the necessity of involving experienced professionals in data collection and analysis to avoid biases and ensure accurate prevalence estimates. By offering a structured approach to designing and executing roadside surveys, the document enables states to generate evidence-based insights into the extent of drugged driving, thereby supporting targeted interventions and legislative actions to reduce impaired driving incidents.

Key finding

The document provides a standardized, step-by-step framework for conducting statewide roadside surveys to accurately estimate the prevalence of alcohol and drug use among drivers, highlighting that while these studies offer valid prevalence data, they cannot determine crash risk.

Methodology

review

Provenance

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

Topics

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• dui enforcement
• illicit drugs
• incidence prevalence
• polydrug

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).

• Empirical Findings: observational prevalence
• Methodological Resource: dataset resource, validation psychometrics