Citation

Asai M. IATSS Res. 1989; 13(2): 7-14.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1989, International Association of Traffic and Safety Sciences, Publisher Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The survey reported here was designed to explore: the rate of drinking driving involved in the through traffic in urban and suburban areas of Japan; magnitude estimation of perceived criminality of traffic violations; and attitudes knowledge and behavior with regard to drinking driving. Alcohol was detected in the breath of 1927 (2.69%) out of 71,376 drivers tested by police at checkpoints throughout Japan, among which 681 (35.3%) exceeded the threshold (0.25 mg/liter). The amount of alcohol detected showed a J-shaped by modal distribution. The magnitude of criminality of the 16 items of traffic violation were estimated. Drinking driving was perceived as the third highest rank in the magnitude of criminology. 52% of respondents had experienced drinking driving in the last five years, showing the differences related to locality and available transportation. Drivers with experience of drink driving projected their anxiety into "if arrested", and drivers without such an experience into "socio-ethical norms". The respondents who felt that police enforcement is "too severe" associated closely to drinking driving on the belief that only few drivers cause accidents under the influence of alcohol. Those who felt that enforcement was "to lose" believed that the reliance on self-control is not a dependable means of preventing drinking driving problems. Fundamental principles for countermeasures against drinking driving should be sought to foster those attitudes based on conforming to a socio-ethical norm.