Preparations for the ICADTS 50th anniversary, jubilee International Conference on Alcohol, Drugs and Traffic Safety, T'2000 in Stockholm are well under way. The dates for the conference are May 22 - 26, 2000. The Stockholm City Conference Centre will be the venue of the conference. Abstract are due before the 1st of September, 1999. Abstracts on any aspect of alcohol, drugs and traffic safety are welcome. The topics include: epidemiology, pharmacology and toxicology, driver characteristics, driving performance, prevention, and rehabilitation. The abstract should be in English with a maximum size of 200 words. Please check the web site for the proper format. Abstracts can be submitted by Email to: abstract@ICADTS2000.com or by diskette. Diskettes should be saved as MS Word or Word Perfect in PC format. Acceptance of abstracts will be forwarded before November 1, 1999. The date for receipt of the full paper is December 31, 1999. The proceedings will be available before the conference.
T'2000 has its own web site, where you will be able to find new information about the conference and about Sweden and Stockholm, which we hope will attract your interest and help you plan your trip. You will find us at http://www.ICADTS2000.com. The conference registration and hotel registration form is available on the web site or from the Conference Secretariat (see Upcoming Events for address). Discounts are available for ICADTS members and for registration made before January 15, 2000. The conference center can be found at http://www.stoccc.se.
We urge you to start thinking about what to present at T'2000 and to mark the dates for our Jubilee Conference.
Erik M.P. Widmark made major contributions towards the assessment of the concentration of alcohol in the blood and body tissues. His development of the "micro-method" of blood alcohol analysis in 1917 made possible the introduction of legislation based on blood alcohol concentration, initially in criminal cases in Sweden in 1934 and later in relation to road crashes.
ICADTS recognizes long-term, outstanding contributions to the field of alcohol, drugs and traffic safety through its Widmark Awards.
Individual Widmark Awards honor those who have made an outstanding, sustained and meritorious contribution to the field that has led to international standing and respect. Candidates must have an impressive record of accomplishments that signify preeminence in the field. Institutional Widmark Awards are conferred on outstanding non-governmental research organizations that have contributed to the advancement of science in areas related to alcohol, drugs and traffic safety.
The Widmark Awards Committee is pleased to invite nominations for individual and institutional awards. Recipients will receive their awards at T'2000, the 15th International Conference on Alcohol, Drugs and Traffic Safety, and the 50th Anniversary of ICADTS, in Stockholm, in May, 2000. Nominations for either award are to be submitted in writing to: Professor Jack McLean, Chair, Widmark Awards Committee, c/o Road Accident Research Unit, University of Adelaide, Australia 5005.
Nominations must be made by a full member of ICADTS in good standing and seconded by a full member in good standing. Candidates can be nominated for their accomplishments in any of the following areas: behavioral toxicology, human psychopharmacology, forensic toxicology, epidemiology, law and law enforcement, technology, public information and education, public policy, legal medicine and social or behavioral sciences.
The letter of nomination must provide a summary of the credentials and achievements that make the candidate a suitable recipient of the Award. The letter must be signed by those making the nomination and must be accompanied by (1) a letter from the candidate -- or the duly authorized representative of the agency in the case of an institutional award -- certifying their acceptance of the nomination and (2) a complete, detailed curriculum vitae in the case of nominees for an individual award and relevant supporting documentation in the case of an institutional award.
It should be made clear to all potential nominees that, while nomination is itself an indication of high standing in the field, the number of awards that are made is strictly limited.
All documentation for a nomination must be received by the Chair of the Widmark Committee on or before September 30, 1999.
An international seminar entitled Road Traffic and Illicit Drugs was held April 19-21, 1999 in Strasbourg, France, under the auspices of the Pompidou Group of the Council of Europe. Approximately 100 researchers and policy specialists from 27 countries attended the meeting. Among the participants were 18 ICADTS members, including 8 presenters: J. Alvarez, J. de Gier, H. Krüger (organizer), J. Mørland, C. Mercier-Guyon, B. Perrine, R. Tunbridge, and A. Verstraete. The mission of the Pompidou Group is to find ways to combat drug abuse and illicit trafficking in drugs in Europe.
The German Center against Addictive Dangers (Deutsche Hauptstelle gegen die Suchtgefahren) held its 13th Scientific Symposium May 17-20, 1999 in Tutzing, Bavaria, and focused on the topic, Drugs in Road Traffic: A Problem from a European Perspective. The event, which was co-sponsored by the Pompidou Group of the Council of Europe and the Coalition against Alcohol and Drugs in Road Traffic (Bund gegen Alkohol und Drogen im Straßenverkehr), drew nearly 120 participants and culminated in a satellite symposium with members of the Bavarian Police and the Interior Ministry in Munich. Several ICADTS members made presentations at the symposium: G. Berghaus, B. Friedel, J. Gerchow, J. de Gier, H. Krüger (organizer), and B. Perrine. Topics included current knowledge of the prevalence of drugs on European roadways, U.S. experience with drug recognition expertise, and criteria for determining the illegality of a given drug. Proceedings from both conferences are expected to be published by Fall 1999.
ICADTS members Hans Krüger and Bud Perrine, with associates, recently published an extensive report and appendix entitled, "Illicit Drugs in Road Traffic," an overview of the legal provisions, difficulties faced by police, and analysis of prevention attempts in selected European countries. In 1998, a research group led by Hans Krüger and Bud Perrine designed and conducted a study, supported by the Pompidou Group of the Council of Europe, of illicit drugs and road safety throughout 12 participating countries: Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.
The study objectives were to survey: (1) existing and pending laws among these selected European countries regarding the use of illicit drugs among drivers; (2) difficulties faced by police, prosecutors, and courts with respect to illicit drugs and road safety; and (3) existing and currently proposed prevention measures. The project involved three phases within each of the 12 participating member states: (1) identification of drug and alcohol specialists in the agencies of justice, police, public health, and transportation, as well as research organizations; (2) data gathering via questionnaire; and (3) follow-up of the questionnaires with roundtable discussions in each of the 12 selected countries. Thus, this study provides an overview of the legal regulations against drugs in society and drugs in road traffic in the 12 countries. It also analyzes the difficulties in enforcing these regulations, as well as the efforts made to date in the field of prevention. (In a companion study by Johan de Gier, the existing epidemiologic literature from the same 12 nations was surveyed and essentially documents the lack of sufficient knowledge of the magnitude of the drug-driving problem. See a summary of de Gier's study in the Winter 1999 issue of The Reporter.
The report provides a summary of the major cross-national findings in the areas of: (1) drugs in society; (2) drugs in traffic; (3) difficulties faced by the police; (4) post-arrest processing: prosecution, conviction, and sentencing; (5) regulations for re-granting driver licenses; and (6) prevention. The appendix provides a summary of the major findings within each of the 12 participating countries, organized according to the same six areas as the main report, plus three sections on relevant official national statistics, national political aspects and considerations regarding drug policy, and unique results of the roundtable discussions in each country.
The principal issues stemming from these results are also discussed: (1) general drug laws vs. road traffic drug laws; (2) impairment vs. analytical approaches: behavior or drug concentration criteria for enforcement; (3) voluntary vs. involuntary biological specimens: the right to refuse or not; (4) desirable innovations: screening devices and drug recognition programs; (5) effectiveness of drug-driving deterrence; and (6) drug-driving prevention programs.
Several significant and urgent common themes emerged from the survey: (1) drugs seem to be everywhere in Europe, and (2) no country is immune from the effects of drugs among its young people. Stemming from these common themes and based on the questionnaires, roundtable meetings, and supplemental information provided, it was concluded that: (1) a drugs-and-driving problem is believed to exist on the European roadways, despite the limited research findings to date; and that despite the lack of adequate funding, there are significant needs for (2) epidemiologic research information on the prevalence of major drugs among both crash-involved and non-crash-involved drivers; (3) experimental research to determine the impairment levels of the major drugs; (4) an effective training program for police officers regarding drug recognition, drug impairment, and drugs and driving; (5) the development of a valid, rapid, affordable field test for the major drugs; (6) the systematic review of all studies of the effectiveness of police activities and countermeasures in combating and reducing drugs and driving; and (7) well-designed, carefully implemented, and critically evaluated drugs-and-driving prevention programs.
For a copy of the report (published under one cover with the appendix), contact either: Prof. Hans Krüger, IZVW, Roentgenring 11, Universität Würzburg, D-97070 Würzburg, Germany, Fax: (49) 931-31-2616, Email: Krueger@psychologie.uni-wuerzburg.de or Prof. M. W. Bud Perrine, Addiction Research Institute, 550 Hinesburg Road, South Burlington, VT 05403 USA, Fax: 802-864-2488, Email: Bperrine@varc.edu
Three new multi-state studies by the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)indicate that a combination of stricter laws, including 0.08 percent blood alcohol concentration (BAC) limits, can significantly reduce alcohol-related traffic deaths. Currently, 40 states have administrative license revocation (ALR) laws, 16 have adopted 0.08 percent BAC limits, and other state legislatures are considering similar measures. ALR laws allow police to immediately suspend the license of a driver who is arrested for driving while under the influence and fails an alcohol test. One study estimated that about 925 lives could be saved each year if all 50 states had both 0.08 percent BAC and ALR laws.
The three independent studies found that there is strong evidence that nationwide, state 0.08 percent BAC laws have reduced fatal crashes involving drivers who have been drinking. Researchers estimate that these laws saved 257 lives in 1997 alone. The reductions involving drivers with BACs above 0.10 percent were just as great as those among low BAC drivers, averaging about 8 percent. If all 50 states had 0.08 percent BAC laws in 1997, one study estimated, 590 additional lives could have been saved. Vermont, Kansas, North Carolina, Florida, and New Mexico experienced a significant reduction in alcohol-related fatalities based on 0.08 percent BAC laws. Virginia and California registered reductions following adoption of 0.08 percent BAC and ALR laws. Utah also had declines in alcohol-related fatalities, but the drop was not statistically significant.
A third study found little separate effort of a .08 BAC law in North Carolina even though it documented a modest reduction in the rate of alcohol-related deaths in the state in a 39-month period following the passage of legislation in 1993. North Carolina has an aggressive enforcement program and the .08 law was one in a series of steps contributing to a decrease in alcohol-related deaths that began in 1987. Summaries of the three studies are available on the NHTSA website, http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/new/.
Two recent U. S. studies shed some light on drinking and driving patterns among different ethnic groups. Raul Caetano, M.D., Ph.D., of the Houston School of Public Health, University of Texas and Catherine L. Clark, Ph.D., Public Health Institute, Berkeley, CA, analyzed the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism's 1995 National Alcohol Survey. They looked at patterns of "driving under the influence" (DUI) among white, black, and Hispanic adults using a representative sample consisting of 1,582 blacks, 1,585 Hispanics, and 1,636 whites in the 1995 U.S. household population. Trained interviewers conducted interviews averaging one hour in respondents' homes. Self-reported rates of driving a car after drinking enough "to be in trouble if stopped by the police" were high, especially for men: 22 percent for white men, 14 percent for black men, 21 percent for Hispanic men, 7 percent for white women, 3 percent for black women, and 6 percent for Hispanic women. Lifetime DUI arrest rates were also higher for men than for women: 13 percent for white men, 11 percent for black men, 19 percent for Hispanic men, 2 percent for white women, 3 percent for black women, and 5 percent for Hispanic women. Results showed that all drinkers seem to overestimate how much alcohol they can consume before driving becomes impaired. Men who had driven after drinking thought they needed an average of six to seven drinks to have their driving impaired. Even men who did not report any drinking and driving overestimated-they figured between four to six drinks.
In a second study, former ICADTS president Robert B. Voas, Ph.D, of Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, found that Mexican Hispanics and Native Americans were hardest hit. Until recently, when traffic fatality records were matched with death certificate data, it was not possible to determine the ethnicity of the drivers, passengers and pedestrians in fatal crashes. Researchers conducted a study of more than 199,000 people fatally injured in crashes occurring January 1, 1990 through December 31, 1994, The study drew on data from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), the NHTSA's census of all fatal U.S. crashes. This study confirmed the findings of earlier, more limited studies: Native Americans have a higher proportion of alcohol-related traffic fatalities (73.2 percent) than Caucasians (44.1 percent), while Asians and Pacific Islanders had a significantly lower proportion (27.1 percent).
The study was the first opportunity to analyze the fatal crash involvement of Hispanic American sub-groups. Cuban Americans have a low alcohol-related traffic fatality rate (33.7 percent) while Mexican Americans had the highest rate (59.7 percent). All ethnic groups experienced a higher proportion of alcohol-related pedestrian fatalities. The rate was 90 percent for Native Americans, ages 16 to 70. Also, only 17 percent of drinking drivers were wearing safety belts at the time of the crash. African Americans had approximately the same rate of alcohol-related traffic crashes as Hispanics and Caucasians. However, these crashes were linked to only about a quarter of fatal injuries for African Americans while they comprised a third to almost half of all injury deaths for the other groups. (Source: MADD's Driven, Vol. 2, Issue 2, Spring 1999)
The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) has sponsored the publication of a brief guide to strategies that can reduce underage alcohol use and youthful drinking and driving. The guide, written by Reporter co-editor, Kathryn Stewart for OJJDP's Enforcing Underage Drinking Laws Initiative provides a summary of research and practice literature on 1) limitations of youth access to alcohol, especially enforcement of minimum purchase age laws and strategies aimed at reducing social availability of alcohol; 2) expressions of community norms that can reduce underage drinking, 3)prevention strategies based in schools and other youth-serving organizations, and 4) strategies aimed at preventing impaired driving. The guide also includes a list of relevant research, other useful printed resources, and web sites on related topics.
The document is available on the Initiative web site: http://www.pire.org/udetc. For a printed copy, contact Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, 11140 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20814 USA.
August 16-20, 1999
38th International Congress on Alcohol and Drug Dependence - Vienna, Austria
For information, contact ICAA, P.O. Box 189, 1001 Lausanne, Switzerland, Fax: 41-21-3201798, Email: icaa@pingnet.ch.
September 20-21, 1999
43rd Annual Conference of the Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine-Barcelona, Spain
Joint session with IRCOBI follows on September 22.
Contact Irene Herzau at AAAM in Chicago for information, Tel: 847-390-8927, ext.11; Email: AAAM@aol.com.
September 20-22, 1999
10th International Conference on Traffic Safety on Two Continents-Malmö, Sweden
Sponsored by VTI, TRB and BASt.
For information contact VTI, Tel: 46-13-20-4000, Fax: 46-13-12-6162, Email: info@vutv.vti.se.
October 13-15, 1999
1999 ABA Traffic Court Seminar - New Orleans, LA, USA
New technologies in breath testing and dealing with alcohol and other drug impaired drivers will be featured.
Contact Committee on Traffic Court Program, ABA Judicial Division, 541 N. Fairbanks Court, Chicago, IL 60611, Tel: 312-988-5742, Fax: 312-988-5709.
January 8-13, 2000
79th Annual Meeting of the U.S. Transportation Research Board-Washington, DC, USA
Special sessions on alcohol, drugs and transportation will be featured.
Contact Dr. Richard Pain, Tel: 202-334-2960, Fax: 202-334-2003, Email: rpain@nas.edu.
May 21-26, 2000
15th International Conference on Alcohol, Drugs and Traffic Safety, ICADTS Jubilee Conference-Stockholm, Sweden
Contact the Conference Secretariat, c/o The Swedish National Road Administration, SE-781 87 Borlänge, Sweden, Tel: 46 243 75000, Fax: 46 243 75825, Email: t2000@vv.se. Also visit the new T'2000 web site: http://www.ICADTS2000.com. (See related article)
May 28-31, 2000
17th World Congress of the International Association for Accident and Traffic Medicine-Stockholm, Sweden
Contact the Conference Secretariat, Box 23201, SE-104 35 Stockholm, Sweden, Tel/Fax: 46 8 30 25 07, Email: secretary@iaatm2000.com.