title: Drinking patterns, risk taking and road accidents of young drivers: results of a Swiss case-control study.
abstract: 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% 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.
authors.affiliation: Swiss Institute for the Prevention of Alcohol and Drug Problems, SIPA, Lausanne.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Fahrenkrug
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rehm
mesh_terms: D000063:Accidents, Traffic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D000431:Ethanol / Q000097:blood; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012307:Risk Factors; D012309:Risk-Taking; D015983:Selection Bias; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013557:Switzerland / Q000453:epidemiology
chemical_list: D000431:Ethanol