1. Report No.

2. Government Accession No.

3. Recipient’s Catalog No.

4. Title and Subtitle

Volume I: Findings
Racial and Ethnic Group Comparisons
National Surveys of Drinking and Driving Attitudes and Behavior - 1993, 1995 and 1997

5. Report Date

6. Performing Organization Code

7. Author(s)

9. Performing Organization Name and Address

The Gallup Organization
4000 Town Center, Suite 1300
Southfield, MI 48075
248-727-0040

11. Contract or Grant No.

13. Type of Report and Period Covered

14. Sponsoring Agency Code

15. Supplementary Notes

Paul J. Tremont, Ph.D. was Contracting Officer’s Technical Representative for this project.

16. Abstract

Differences in drinking and driving attitudes and behaviors among diverse groups of persons, (i.e., White, Black, Asian, American Indian/Eskimo and Hispanic), were examined by pooling data from the 1993, 1995, and 1997 administrations of the NHTSA’s National Survey on Drinking and Driving Attitudes and Behavior. The special analysis is based on responses from 10,453 persons, age 16 to 64 including 7,955 persons of White, (non-Hispanic) descent, 1,026 of Black (non-Hispanic) descent, 743 Hispanics, 274 Asians, and 197 persons of American Indian or Eskimo descent.

This report, Volume I: Findings reports respondent’s behaviors and attitudes on the frequency of drinking and driving, general attitudes regarding the problem, enforcement, legal limits, prevention, and crash and injury experience. Volume II: Methods Report describes the methods used to conduct the interviews and analyze the data. It also contains a copy of the most recent questionnaire.

The findings show that self-reported prevalence of driving within two hours of drinking in the past year is at 28% for Whites, 21% for America Indian/Eskimo, 17% for Hispanic, 16% for Blacks, and 13% for Asians. While Whites as a group are the most likely to drive after drinking, those of Hispanic or American Indian/Eskimo descent are almost twice as likely as others to put themselves at risk by riding with a potentially impaired driver. Hispanics and American Indians/Eskimos are also more likely than other groups to meet the criteria of being a "problem drinker."

Of the general driving age public, 98% see drinking and driving as a threat to their personal safety, and 86% feel it is very important to do something to reduce the problem. Whites, however, are least likely to see a problem or feel something should be done about it. American Indians/Eskimos are twice as likely as others to report being stopped for suspicion of drinking and driving, and Hispanics are most likely to report arrests from drinking and driving violations. Those of American Indian/Eskimo or Hispanic descent are less likely than others to feel that following a drinking-driving charge, punishment is a certainty.

A majority of those who are aware of BAC levels (56%) support a legal limit of .08 or lower for their state, with the weakest support for an .08 limit occurring among White persons of driving age.

17. Key Words

18. Distribution Statement

This report is available from the National Technical Information Service, Springfield, VA (703) 487-4650 and free of charge on the NHTSA web site at www.nhtsa.dot.gov

19. Security Classif. (of this report)

20. Security Classif. (of this page)

21. No. of Pages

22. Price