The Scientific Committee has received more than 200 abstracts from 27 countries for the 16th ICADTS International Conference on Alcohol, Drugs and Traffic Safety. The conference is scheduled to take place in Montréal, Québec, Canada from August 4-9, 2002. The venue will be the Palais des Congrès, Montréal's convention centre in the heart of the city. Full papers will be due by April 15, 2002. This will allow for distribution of the published proceedings at the conference.
A reduced registration fee for ICADTS members of $625 Canadian (about $393 US or 456 Euros and $725 Canadian (about $456 US or 529 Euros) for non-members is available until May 30, 2002. The registration fee includes the welcoming reception, lunches, the conference dinner and the conference proceedings.
Additional information concerning the conference can be obtained from the conference website at: www.saaq.gouv.qc.ca/t2002, by tel: 514-395-1808, fax: 514-395-1801, or email: info@opus3.com. The preliminary program is now available that includes details on the scientific program, the social activities, companions program, and pre- and post-conference activities. It also includes conference and hotel registration information. Registration can be accomplished on-line by visiting the website noted above.
Information is also included on the MADD Canada/MADD U.S. August 3, 2002 workshop on Effective Change through Grassroot Mobilization. For details, call 800-665-6233 (within Canada) or 905-813-6233 (outside of Canada) or visit the websites of the organizations, www.MADD.ca or www.MADD.org.
According to a new survey of law enforcement in the U.S., 89 percent of police officers said that having to deal with too much paperwork is the biggest problem they encounter when dealing with repeat drunk drivers. Because the amount of paperwork is so daunting -- requiring up to four hours to complete in some instances -- police say this severely restricts their ability to process Driving While Intoxicated (DWI) arrests when they also have to handle other service calls or respond to emergencies. The survey was conducted by the Traffic Injury Research Foundation, and funded by the Anheuser-Busch Companies, Inc.
The study, Stopping the revolving door: DWI system improvements for dealing with hard core drinking drivers, examines problems that police officers, prosecutors, judges and probation and parole officers encounter when dealing with repeat offenders. The study also offers practical, workable solutions direct from those employed in these professions. Specifically, the key findings of the police survey include:
The other nine problems cited by officers in the survey include lack of training in evidence collection procedures; inconsistent cooperation from the medical community during DWI investigations; insufficient penalties for failure by repeat offenders to appear in court; inadequate access to records to conduct DWI investigations; police testimony in court may lack sufficient detail and not be communicated effectively; and resource constraints, such as increased need for better technology to deal with repeat offenders but lack of departmental resources to acquire it. Contact TIRF in Ottawa, at 613-238-5235 for more information. A copy of the full report is available on TIRF's website at: www.trafficinjuryresearch.com.
A study conducted in South Australia looked at the relationship between blood benzodiazepine concentration and crash risk. Blood samples from 2500 injured drivers were analyzed and crash risk was assessed using culpability analysis. There were 68 drivers (2.7%) who tested positive for at least one benzodiazepine. Of these, 16 (23.5%) also tested positive for alcohol. Drivers who tested positive for benzodiazepine, either alone or in combination with alcohol, had a higher culpability rate than drug-free drivers. There was a significant linear relationship between benzodiazepine concentration and culpability for drivers who tested positive for benzodiazepines alone. The authors conclude that this is the first study to show an adverse effect of benzodiazepines when used alone, using a much larger sample and a standard scale of benzodiazepine concentration.
The study, which appeared in the Journal of Traffic Medicine (JTM) (Vol. 29, No. 1-2, 2001) was conducted by Marie Longo and Jason White of Adelaide University and Robert Lokan of the S.A. Department for Administrative and Information Services. For further information, contact Ms. Longo at: maria.longo@adelaide.edu.au.
A second study, also appearing in JTM (Vol. 29, No. 3-4, 2001), conducted by Jan Törnros of the Swedish Road and Transport Research Institute and colleagues from Swedish hospitals, attempted to determine if benzodiazepine users exhibited impaired performance in simulated car driving and in laboratory tests. Effects of a small dose of alcohol on performance were also studied. Comparisons were made between twenty outpatients using benzodiazepines and an individually age and sex matched control group. Alcohol consumption resulted in BACs between 25mg% and 40mg%. The benzodiazepine users exhibited greater intra individual speed variation at simulated driving, and impaired performance on simple reaction time and memory. No other differences were found. No relationship was found between dosage and behavior. Alcohol had no effects on performance. A conclusion of the study is that benzodiazepine users who use their medicine according to prescriptions by a physician do not appear to constitute a significant traffic safety problem, even if it cannot be ruled out that their impairment regarding simple reaction time may have some relevance. Their increased speed variation may also have some significance in that respect. Persons with high doses may still have some problems even if that was not proved to be the case in this study. For further information, contact Dr. Törnros at: jan.tornros@vti.se.
Two studies conducted by F. Javier Alvarez of the University of Valladolid and colleagues looked at alcohol-related problems and fitness to drive and illicit drugs and fitness to drive. Both studies investigated the two problems and the fitness to drive of 8043 drivers attending 25 Medical Driving Test Centres in Spain. A medical, psychological and eyesight evaluation was performed to test driving fitness. Under Spanish and European Union legislation driver licenses cannot be issued or renewed to people suffering from alcohol or illicit drug-related problems.
The first study, which appeared in Alcohol & Alcoholism (Vol. 36, No. 3, 2001) co-authored by M. Carmen Del Rio of the University of Valladolid and Juan Carlos Gonzalez-Luque of the National Traffic Agency, found that 60.3% of drivers drink alcohol on a regular basis. Among drivers diagnosed as having alcohol-related problems, 23.2% of these admitted to a traffic accident in the three years preceding the survey and 18% said they had been fined in the year preceding the survey. These figures are significantly higher than for those who did not have alcohol-related problems. Of drivers with alcohol-related problems, three out of four were considered fit to drive. The authors suggest that perhaps drivers with alcohol-related problems should be remitted to care services for a proper diagnosis and intervention.
In the second study, Dr. Alvarez and M. Carmen del Rio investigated the incidence of problems related to illicit drugs and fitness to drive. A small percentage (0.3%, 24 drivers) interviewed had problems relating to drug use and half of them were also diagnosed as having problems with alcohol. Drivers with illicit drug-related problems were significantly more often involved in road accidents and committed more traffic infractions than those without drug problems. The results shows that the incidence of drug-related problems is rare among Spanish drivers, and that in three out of four cases drivers with drug-related problems were considered fit to drive. This study was reported in Drugs and Alcohol Dependence, Vol. 64, 2001. Contact Dr. Alvarez at: alvarez@med.uva.es for additional information on either study.
Canadians admit they probably drove drunk on more than 5 million occasions last year. However, 87% of those impaired driving trips were taken by just 5% of the drivers, according to the second report from the Road Safety Monitor released in November by the Traffic Injury Research Foundation (TIRF). Through its Road Safety Monitor, TIRF surveys public attitudes toward safety and gathers information on driving habits and road safety practices. More than 1,200 drivers were surveyed by telephone in March and April 2001 on a number of road safety issues.
Findings include:
In 1999 (most recent data available), 906 people were killed in Canada in road crashes involving an impaired driver, and approximately 3,500 drivers were involved in alcohol-related serious-injury crashes. For more information contact: Barbara Koppe, tel: 613-238-5235, toll-free: 877-238-5235, or email: barbarak@trafficinjuryresearch.com. A copy of the full report is available on TIRF's website at: www.trafficinjuryresearch.com.
Six technical sessions on alcohol and drugged driving were featured at the 81st Annual Meeting of the US Transportation Research Board (TRB) in Washington, DC January 13-17, 2002.
The sessions were sponsored by the Committee on Alcohol, Other Drugs and Transportation, chaired by Dr. Allan Williams. The six sessions included: Alcohol interlock devices: new research findings, Ask the experts: vehicle sanctions to combat drinking and driving, Low BACs: Resolved and unresolved issues, Suspended and revoked DWI drivers: measures to deal with them, Drugs other than alcohol, and driving and Underage drinking. Summaries of all of the presentations have been put together and are available upon request. If you would like a copy of the summaries, contact Dr. Williams at: awilliams@iihs.org.
ICADTS member Mary Sheehan, from the Centre for Accident Research and Road Safety, Queensland, Australia gave a brief presentation at the TRB meeting regarding the problem of impaired driving on rural roads in Australia. There are a number of traffic safety issues that are unique to rural areas. A sizeable population is in rural and remote areas all over Australia, but particularly in Queensland. The chance of being killed on rural road per kilometer driven is four to six times greater than on urban roads. The outstanding injury problem in rural areas is traffic injury. The more remote the area, the higher the death rate. This pattern also applies to non-fatal injuries as measured by hospital records.
Progress in reducing fatalities has not been as great as in urbanized areas. In the alcohol area, urban and rural rates were similar in 1994. Urban rates have declined since then while fatality rates in rural areas have increased markedly. Motorcyclists are highly over represented in injury crashes in rural areas as are indigenous persons riding as passengers in motor vehicles. Core issues include the fact that most interventions are directed at urban problems and that the cost of research in rural areas is high, especially due to the great distances involved. A major study is planned to explore some of the key issues and to identify possible countermeasures.
Similar problems have been identified in rural areas in the United States and elsewhere. Interest was expressed at the meeting in organizing an ICADTS working group on this topic. Anyone interested in participating in such a working group should contact Dr. Sheehan at m.sheehan@qut.edu.au.
The U.S. Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) held a three-day Impaired Driving Summit in Scottsdale, Arizona in January in order to obtain input from the nation's experts to assist MADD in developing its strategic plan for the next few years. Participants discussed priorities, identified new strategies, debated the effectiveness of existing strategies and made recommendations for top priorities for leaders to work on over the next three years.
ICADTS President Barry Sweedler gave a presentation on effective countermeasures form other countries, which included: random breath testing, lower BACs, regranting of licenses, graduated penalties based on BAC, alcohol policy and a dedicated highway safety fund. He obtained much of the information for his presentation from ICADTS working group reports and from information provided by ICADTS members from around the world.
Other ICADTS members also provided input to the summit. They included: Jim Fell, Ralph Hingson, Jim Nichols, Carl Soderstrom, Kathy Stewart, Bob Voas and Allan Williams. MADD will issue a public report based on the Summit. The presentations can be viewed on the MADD website: www.madd.org.
Expressing deep concern over the lack of progress in meeting the national goal of no more than 11,000 deaths by 2005, MADD President Millie Webb thanked summit participants for their participation and input and urged the highway safety community to renew its focus on impaired driving.
Ruth Shults, from the U.S. National Center for Injury Prevention and Control at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and her colleagues have completed a systematic review of the evidence regarding the effectiveness of several impaired driving countermeasures. Based on the evidence, they have developed recommendations for implementing these strategies. The findings regarding the strategies include:
A summary of the review is published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, November 2001. The full report can be seen on the website, www.thecommunityguide.org.
The ICADTS Executive Board recently elected new members to ICADTS. They include: Dr. Morris Odell and Mr. Warren Harrison of Australia; Mr. Roger Doherty, Mr. Thomas Page and Mr. Robert Zettl of the USA and Mr. Michel Willekens of Belgium. Each new member was nominated by two active ICADTS members and approved by the Membership Committee and the Executive Board. In addition, Dr. Donald Frederick and Ms. Jane Maney of the USA were approved as Affiliate Members. Colleagues working in the field of alcohol, drugs and traffic safety who are interested in becoming members of ICADTS, can obtain information on ICADTS membership and an application, by checking the ICADTS website or by contacting the ICADTS, Secretary Dr. Elizabeth Wells-Parker, Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, Mississippi 39762, USA, Fax: 662-325-7966 or by Email at: bwparker@ssrc.msstate.edu. The entire membership process can now be conducted on-line. Current dues for ICADTS are $60 per year.
May 12-17, 2002
The Robert F. Borkenstein Course on Alcohol, Drugs and Highway Safety: Testing, Research and Litigation. Bloomington, IN USA
Contact Darlena Lindsay of the Indiana University Center for Studies of Law in Action, Email: dlindsay@indiana.edu, Tel: 812-855-1783, Fax: 812-855-7542.
July 23-25, 2002
14th Annual Symposium on Alcohol and Drug Enforcement. Kissimmee, Florida, USA
Contact the Institute of Police Technology and Management at Tel: 904-620-4786, or visit website: www.iptm.org.
August 3, 2002
Effective Change Through Grassroots Mobilization-Montréal, Québec, Canada
For information about the workshop or to register, call MADD at 1-800-665-6233 within Canada or 1-905-6233 outside of Canada.
August 4-9, 2002
16th International Conference on Alcohol, Drugs and Traffic Safety, T'02- Montréal, Québec, Canada
For information visit the Société de l'assurance automobile du Québec website: www.saaq.gouv.qc.ca/t2002.
September 22-25, 2002
18th World Congress of the International Traffic Medicine Association-Cairo, Egypt
Information available from Congress Secretariat, Misr Travel, 1, Talaat Harb Street, PO Box 1000, Cairo, Egypt, Email: itma2002@ie-eg.com, Fax: 202-392-4440.
November 9-14, 2002
ICAA's 45th International Conference on the Prevention of Dependencies-Bermuda
Contact the ICAA Secretariat, Case Postale 189, 1001 Lausanne, Switzerland, Tel: 41 21 320 98 65, Email: secretariat@icaa.ch.
January 12-16, 2003
82nd Annual Meeting of the U. S. Transportation Research Board. Washington, DC USA
Special alcohol and drug sessions will be featured. Meetings of the TRB Committee on Alcohol, Other Drugs and Transportation and the ICADTS Executive Board will also be scheduled.
Contact Dr. Richard Pain, Tel: 202-334-2960, Fax: 202-334-2003, Email: rpain@nas.edu.