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Abstract
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The present study was designed to investigate whether persons with alcoholism incur more driving infractions than non-alcoholic drivers, and secondly, if successful treatment of these people decreases the number of their infractions.
Three hundred ninety-one experimental subjects, employed in eight large industries across the country, were studied. They were identified as alcoholics by members of the Labor-Management Alcoholism Programs in these companies, were treated, and were eventually returned to satisfactory job performance.
An equal number of controls was randomly selected from the same companies and matched for age, sex, job classification, and state of residence.
Motor Vehicle Department records were obtained for all subjects and were studied for a three-year period before the alcoholic's entry into a treatment program and for the three years following his return to satisfactory job performance. Driving records of controls were studied for the same dates as the experimentals to which they were matched
Statistically significant results were obtained.
(1) Before treatment, experimental group subjects had significantly more convictions than controls for DUIL, Reckless Driving, Other Moving Violations, Total Collisions, Collisions involving Property Damage, and Driving Without A valid License. After treatment there were no significant differences between experimentals and controls.
(2) There was a tendency for frequency of offenses to increase yearly before entry into treatment and decrease yearly after return to satisfactory job performance.
(3) The data suggested that raw speeding data without miles-per-hour over the speed limit, neither predicts crashes nor alcoholism.
This study is a statistical investigation of 782 people (391 subjects and 391 matched controls) to determine if successful treatment of alcoholism improves the driving performance of alcoholic drivers. |