Prevalence of Alcohol and Illicit Drugs in Blood Specimens from Drivers Involved in Traffic Law Offenses. Systematic Review of Cross-Sectional Studies

Abstract

The results of this study should be regarded as an attempt to obtain more reliable data concerning the prevalence of alcohol and illicit drugs among drivers. To obtain a better assessment of the real current role of alcohol and drugs (illicit and medications), it seems strongly necessary to update the case-control study conducted by Borkenstein et al. in 1964, including now blood analyses of the whole spectrum of substances that can impair drivers.

Alcohol and drugs in suspected impaired drivers in Ontario from 2001 to 2005

“…[4][5][6][7][8] The majority of drivers (n = 640/733, 87.3%) had a blood alcohol concentration greater than the legal limit (80 mg/100 mL) at the time of sample collection, while 64 drivers had BACs between 10 and 79 mg/100 mL. The detected BACs represent the concentration at the time the sample was collected.…”

Concentrations of cocaine and its major metabolite benzoylecgonine in blood samples from apprehended drivers in Sweden

“…Most previous studies of DUID have focused on the prevalence of drugs other than alcohol in blood and/or urine of the apprehended drivers [16,[23][24][25]. Much less attention has been given to making a statistical analysis of the concentrations in blood and whether these are unusually high or low compared with many controlled dosing studies [22].…”

Alcohol calibration of tests measuring skills related to car driving

“…The most well-known and widely used benchmark drug for assessing drug-induced driving impairment is alcohol (e.g., González-Wilhelm 2007; Louwerens et al 1987). The increased risk of traffic accidents is well established for various legal limits of blood alcohol concentrations (BACs).…”