Identifying impaired drivers among the general driving population.

The primary purpose of this study was to identify predictors of impaired driving among a random sample of Canadian drivers who consume beverage alcohol. A second purpose was to determine if impaired drivers in the general population have characteristics similar to those reported among convicted and accident-involved impaired drivers. Amount of alcohol consumed over the past seven days was found to be the single most powerful predictor of both frequency of drinking-driving and of impaired driving. Impaired drivers differed from moderate-drinking drivers on a number of measures and were characterized by more irresponsible attitudes and higher risk behavior, consistent with findings of other impaired-driver subgroups. It is concluded that impaired driving may be just one behavior which is part of a deviant behavioral syndrome typified by high-risk behaviors.