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| The Changing Profile of the Drinking/Drugged Driver: Implications for Clinical Assessment |
| Feature Articles - Treatment Strategies or Protocols | |
| Written by William L. White, MA | |
| Tuesday, 10 April 2007 | |
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Problems arising from acute and chronic alcohol and other drug
intoxication constitute significant public health and safety issues in
America. Of particular concern is the role alcohol and other drug
impairment continues to play in traffic fatalities on the nation’s
highways. The rate of alcohol-related fatalities per vehicle miles
traveled has dropped dramatically in the past two decades (from 1.64 in
1982 to 0.59 in 2003), but alcohol-related incidents still constitute
40 percent of all traffic fatalities — more than 17,000 persons killed
per year (NHTSA, 2005).
At the same time, new understandings about drinking drivers challenge many longstanding assumptions upon which intervention programs have been built. This article describes the evolution in our understanding of the drinking driver, highlights current research on the “hard core drinking driver,” and discusses the clinical implications of these findings. Early History Concerns about alcohol, drugs, and public safety have a long history. Early nineteenth century temperance literature is filled with images of bottle waving, drunken young men careening through city streets in horse-drawn carriages. Such threats led to drinking and driving laws that predate the invention of the automobile. Prohibition promised to end growing concerns about intoxicated drivers, but Repeal brought a new wave of drinking and driving problems in the 1930s, as well as regulations aimed at reducing them. It wasn’t until the Alcohol Safety Action Program (ASAP) emerged in the 1970s that America launched a comprehensive approach to reducing risks to public safety posed by the alcohol-impaired driver. Want to read the entire article? Don't miss out...Subscribe now to Counselor Magazine—or buy the single issue! It's easy. Just follow the links below:
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