DUI Scientific Articles

FREE DUI Consultation
Home
Local DUI News
State DUI Statutes
DUI Links
DUI Legal News
DUI Articles
DUI Science Articles
Contact DUI-News
DUI Forum
DUI News & Info Sitemap

DUI Science

NOTE: If you are researching DUI's because you have been charged with a DUI or DWI - you should speak to a DUI Lawyer. The DUI or DWI laws in most states carry mandatory jail sentences and driver's license suspension. Only a DUI Attorney with the necessay experience can evaluate your case fully. A qualified DUI Lawyer or DWI Lawyer can tell you what legal defenses you may have available in your DUI or DWI case. The DUI Lawyer will also be able to tell you if your state has alternative resolution programs available for DUI - this is a program where you may take classes, do community service etc. and the charges are expunged.

STRATEGIES TO REDUCE DRIVING UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF ALCOHOL
William DeJong
Department of Health and Social Behavior, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts 02115; e-mail: bdejong@edc.org
Ralph Hingson
Social and Behavioral Sciences, Boston University Medical Center, School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts 02118
? Abstract The purpose of this review is to update research on the prevention of alcohol-related traffic deaths since the 1988 Surgeon General's Workshop on Drunk Driving. Four primary areas of research are reviewed here: (a) general deterrence policies, (b) alcohol control policies, (c) mass communications campaigns, including advertising restrictions, and (d) community traffic safety programs. Modern efforts to combat drunk driving in the United States began with specific deterrence strategies to punish convicted drunk drivers, and then evolved to include general deterrence strategies that were targeted to the population as a whole. Efforts next expanded to include the alcohol side of the problem, with measures installed to decrease underage drinking and excessive alcohol consumption. In the next several years, greater efforts are needed on all these fronts. Also needed, however, are programs that integrate drunk driving prevention with other traffic safety initiatives.


Drugs of Abuse Monitoring in Blood for Control of Driving Under the Influence of Drugs

Moeller, Manfred R.*; Kraemer, Thomas†
*Institute of Legal Medicine and †Department of Experimental and Clinical Toxicology, Institute of Experimental and Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Saarland, Homburg, Germany
Summary:
Driving under the influence of drugs is an issue of growing concern in the industrialized countries as a risk and a cause for road accidents. In forensic toxicology, the increasing number of samples for determination of drugs in blood is mainly due to zero-tolerance laws in several countries and well-trained police officers who can better recognize drivers under the influence of drugs of abuse. This review describes procedures for detection of the following drugs of abuse in whole blood, plasma, and serum: amphetamine, methamphetamine, 3,4-methylenedioxy methamphetamine (MDMA), N-ethyl-3, 4-methylenedioxyamphetamine (MDEA), 3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine (MDA), cannabinoids (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol [THC], 11-hydroxy-delta-9-THC, 11-nor-9-carboxy-delta-9-THC), cocaine, benzoylecgonine, ecgonine methyl ester, cocaethylene, the opiates (heroin, 6-monoacetylmorphine, morphine, or codeine), and methadone as well as gamma-hydroxybutyric acid (GHB), lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), phencyclidine (PCP), and psilocybin/psilocin. For many of the analytes, sensitive immunologic methods for screening are available. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) is still the state-of-the-art method for confirmatory analysis or for screening and confirmation in one step. Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) procedures for such purposes are also included in this review. Basic data about the biosample assayed, internal standard, workup, GC or LC column and mobile phase, detection mode, reference data, and validation data of each procedure are summarized in two tables.


Probability of arrest while driving under the influence of alcohol
George A Beitel, Michael C Sharp and William D Glauz
Midwest Research Institute, Kansas City, MO 64110
Summary
The probability of arrest while driving at a blood alcohol level over 0.10% was 0.0058 (about one in 200).
There is considerable interest in defining the relationship between the probability of being arrested for driving under the influence of intoxicants (DUI) and blood alcohol concentration (BAC)*. Such information, if accurately known, could be put to a variety of uses, including public information, police patrol management information, DUI patrol evaluation, and estimation of the number of drunken drivers on the road.
In surveys associated with the Alcohol Safety Action Projects (ASAP), thousands of persons have been interviewed and asked, among other questions, what they thought their chances were of being stopped by the police after having had too much to drink. The object of such a question is to measure the level of public awareness of enforcement of the DUI laws.


Visual search and urban driving under the influence of marijuana and alcohol
C. T. J. Lamers, J. G. Ramaekers *
Experimental Psychopharmacology Unit, Brain and Behavior Institute, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands
Abstract
The purpose of the present study was to assess the effects of low doses of marijuana and alcohol, and their combination, on visual search at intersections and on general driving proficiency in the City Driving Test. Sixteen recreational users of alcohol and marijuana (eight males and eight females) were treated with these substances or placebo according to a balanced, 4-way, cross-over, observer- and subject-blind design. On separate evenings, subjects received weight-calibrated doses of THC, alcohol or placebo in each of the following treatment conditions: alcohol placebo + THC placebo, alcohol + THC placebo, THC 100 g/kg + alcohol placebo, THC 100 g/kg + alcohol. Alcohol doses administered were sufficient for achieving a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of about 0.05 g/dl. Initial drinking preceded smoking by one hour. The City Driving Test commenced 15 minutes after smoking and lasted 45 minutes. The test was conducted over a fixed route within the city limits of Maastricht. An eye movement recording system was mounted on each subject's head for providing relative frequency measures of appropriate visual search at intersections. General driving quality was rated by a licensed driving instructor on a shortened version of the Royal Dutch Tourist Association's Driving Proficiency Test. After placebo treatment subjects searched for traffic approaching from side streets on the right in 84% of all cases. Visual search frequency in these subjects did not change when they were treated with alcohol or marijuana alone. However, when treated with the combination of alcohol and marijuana, the frequency of visual search dropped by 3%. Performance as rated on the Driving Proficiency Scale did not differ between treatments. It was concluded that the effects of low doses of THC (100 g/kg) and alcohol (BAC < 0.05 g/dl) on higher-level driving skills as measured in the present study are minimal. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.




Motor vehicle collision risk and driving under the influence of cannabis: Evidence from adolescents in Atlantic Canada
Mark Asbridge, , Christiane Poulin and Andrea Donato
Department of Community Health and Epidemiology, Dalhousie University, 5790 University Avenue, Halifax, NS, Canada B3H 1V7
Abstract

Objective:
Employing a sample of 6087 senior students in Atlantic Canada, this paper examines the relationship between driving under the influence of cannabis (DUIC) and motor vehicle collision (MVC) risk. A series of models were analyzed adjusting for demographic characteristics, driver experience, and substance use.

Methods:
Participants were drawn from the 2002/2003 Student Drug Use Survey in the Atlantic Provinces, an anonymous cross-sectional survey of adolescent students in the Atlantic provinces of Canada. Logistic regression techniques were employed in the analysis of unadjusted and adjusted models.

Results:
Among senior students, the prevalence of DUIC in the past year was 15.1% while the prevalence of MVCs was 8.1%. The predictors of DUIC were gender, driver experience, use of a fake ID, and driving under the influence of alcohol (DUIA). The predictors of MVC were gender, driver experience, DUIC, and DUIA.

Conclusions:
These findings extend our knowledge of DUIC as a socio-legal and public health issue with implications on road safety. Effort must be placed on educating new drivers about cannabis use in the context of driving.


Relapse to driving under the influence (DUI): A review
Thomas H. Nochajskia, , and Paul R. Stasiewiczb
aSchool of Social Work, University at Buffalo, 660 Baldy Hall, Amherst, NY 14260, United States
bResearch Institute on Addictions, University at Buffalo, United States
Abstract
Driving under the influence (DUI) is a major public health problem. In 2003, there were 17,401 alcohol-related crash fatalities. Although there has been a large decrease in the fatality rates over the past two decades, further progress has stalled in recent years. This plateau in the injury and death rates resulting from impaired driving has been attributed, in part, to the persistent or repeat DUI offender. Broadly defined, repeat offenders are those individuals who, following an initial DUI arrest, relapse to driving under the influence of alcohol and other drugs. In this paper, we first provide a brief overview of several models of DUI relapse. We then review the empirical literature on DUI relapse, the data describing characteristics of first-time and repeat DUI offenders, and, especially, studies that have evaluated the impact of legal sanctions and rehabilitation programs on subsequent DUI behavior. The data reveal that DUI offenders are a heterogeneous group, and that simple models relying on only one or two behavioral domains (e.g., driving characteristics, demographics) to explain DUI relapse are insufficient to account for the DUI behavior of offenders. To advance our understanding of DUI relapse, we argue for development and testing of multifactorial models focusing on the interplay of legal, social and psychological factors that describe and explain relapse among DUI offenders. By recognizing the heterogeneity within the offender population it will be easier for researchers and clinicians to identify subgroups that are at high-risk for relapse and which should be targeted by prevention and intervention programs.

 

 

 

© COPYRIGHT 2009 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED DUI-NEWS.INFO