TY - JOUR PY - 1994// TI - Drinking Patterns, Risk-Taking and Road Accidents of Young Drivers - Results of A Swiss Case-Control Study JO - Sozial und Praventivmedizin A1 - Fahrenkrug, H. A1 - Rehm, Jürgen T. SP - 227 EP - 238 VL - 39 IS - 4 N2 - A case-control study was conducted to test hypotheses about involvement in alcohol-related road accidents. Cases were defined as all male drivers between 18 and 25 years of age who were involved in a police-registered alcohol-related road accident in the Swiss cantons of Vaud and Ticino or the city of Zurich in 1990 and who had a BAC level of 0.8 parts per thousand and more (N = 306). Accident-free controls were drawn from registers of all persons with a driver's licence, matched for sex, age, and place of residence (N = 612). The main research instrument was a questionnaire distributed to cases and controls. Since response rates were relatively low in both groups (ca. 35%), specific analyses were undertaken to exclude the possibility of a selection bias. Results demonstrated that drinking pattern and risk behaviour were important contributing factors to the accidents. Especially, male persons with a permanent heavy-drinking style, males with a risky-driving style plus a regular or periodically heavy-drinking style, and persons who enjoy taking risks and drink to cope, increase their risk of being involved in an alcohol-related traffic accident more than sixfold. A tendency to engage generally in risky behaviour did not increase the risk of involvement in an alcohol accident.

LA - SN - 0303-8408 UR - http://dx.doi.org/ ID - ref1 ER -