Citation

Iffland R. Blutalkohol 1998; 35(4): 258-274.

Affiliation

Institut fur Rechtsmedizin, Universitat zu Koln, D-50823 Koln (Ehrenfeld), Germany.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1998, International Committee on Alcohol, Drugs and Traffic Safety and Bund gegen Alkohol und Drogen im Straßenverkehr, Publisher Steintor Verlag)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The so called 'German Roadside Survey' is a study which claims to have reliably detected the total number of drink drivers in road traffic within the whole Federal Republic of Germany before 1989. Furthermore it claims to have established a reliable differentiation between times of day, drivers' ages and gender. However, there seem to be some considerable inaccuracies with regard to the distribution of controls during certain periods of the day and the week. The difference between rush hour traffic with few cases of drink driving and off peak times when drink driving is a much more regular occurrence is not taken into consideration which would make the statistical estimates inaccurate. An attempt to even out these differences is made by raising the driving performance. This, in turn leads to such absurd results, in parts, that all previous experiences with drink drivers are contradictory to these. Large scale traffic controls involving several tens of thousands of drivers carried out in different regions could not confirm, or even get close to the alcohol levels claimed to have been found in drivers by the Wurzburg study. It is possible that, occasionally, in very restricted regions, road traffic may at present be, or may in the past have been more overloaded with drink drivers. This would, however only be temporary. Under no circumstances do the crucial shortcomings in concept and evaluation justify the ambitious title 'German Roadside Survey'.