Planning and organisation are both well on track for what promises to be an informative and enjoyable conference, with several new aspects included over and above previous years' events. The registration desk will open during the afternoon of Sunday 8 August, and will remain open throughout the meeting. Each registered delegate will receive a pack containing much local information as well as a combined book of abstracts and a CD of all the papers. Additional copies of the CD and the book of abstracts will also be available for purchase.
The official opening ceremony, to which all delegates and registered accompanying persons are invited, will take place in the impressive main auditorium of the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre on the morning of Monday 9 August. We are pleased that Mr David Jamieson, the British Road Safety Minister, will carry out the opening formalities, which will be followed by the presentation of ICADTS awards and plenary presentations delivered by Dr David Osseleton of the UK Forensic Science Service; Professor Wayne Jones from Sweden; and Dr Margie Peden of the World Health Organisation.
From now until the meeting, the conference website [www.icadts2004.com] will be updated with news and other information, so please visit on a regular basis. Although there will inevitably be some minor changes to it, the scientific program is now all but completed, and can be downloaded and printed. Details of the individual workshops will also be available shortly, although these are less structured than the parallel sessions.
One of the important aspects of any conference is the opportunity to meet with colleagues for informal discussions away from the sessions. To permit more time for this we will offer delegates a stand-up fork buffet instead of a sit-down lunch. This will be taken in the exhibition and posters area, so that delegates will also have ample opportunity to see what is new in the field of relevant technology and services. Dinner on the Thursday night promises to be a very grand occasion, if only because rumour has it that our President will appear fully attired in a Scottish kilt - in the very rare McDeGier tartan!
On a serious note, the conference venue, the SECC, operates a very strict safety and security policy, hence nobody will be admitted to the T2004 conference area unless they are wearing an appropriate identity badge. Also, for everyone's health and safety, the entire venue is strictly no-smoking. A great deal of hard work has already gone into the planning stages for this meeting, and this will continue right up until execution mode. If anyone has any question about the meeting, please do not hesitate to contact the T2004 Conference Secretariat - Meeting Makers Ltd - via the website, and they will be pleased to assist in whatever way they can. We all look forward to welcoming you to T2004 in Scotland this August.
Dr Paul M Williams, T2004 Organising Committee
ICADTS took part in a World Health Day event in Washington, D.C. on April 8. The program, Clear Views on Blurred Vision: Alcohol and Driving, was sponsored by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and was in coordination with this year's World Health Day road safety theme. The meeting at PAHO was part of the new Road Safety is No Accident campaign Experts presented information on the relationship between traffic crashes and alcohol consumption. Health in the Americas Week April 7-14 was dedicated to road safety.
Ralph Hingson, ICADTS President-Elect represented ICADTS and was joined on the program by Wendy Hamilton, President, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, officials from PAHO, the U.S. National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other experts in the field. Topics discussed included marketing alcohol to young people and the effectiveness of taxation and other alcohol control policies.
Studies in low-income countries show alcohol is present in between 33 percent and 69 percent of fatally injured driver, and inexperienced young drivers everywhere with a high blood alcohol content have 2.5 times the risk of a crash compared with more experienced drivers. Alcohol consumption is one of the leading causes of traffic accidents globally, according to a new World Report on Road Traffic Injury Prevention by the World Health Organization and the World Bank. The report recommends appointment of a lead agency in every country to coordinate efforts by various sectors. The report notes that road safety is a shared responsibility, and calls on the expertise of people across many sectors and disciplines, including public health professionals, health care providers, road and motor vehicle engineers, law enforcement officials and educators. The report can be viewed at: www.who.int/en.
PAHO, together with other partners, announced the launch of a regional campaign to reduce deaths and injuries from traffic crashes in the Americas, focusing on increased use of seat belts and helmets, reductions in drunk driving, road improvements and others. (Source: PAHO April 8, 2004 press release)
ICADTS, the White House Drug Policy Office, the National Institute on Drug Abuse, and the International Association of Forensic Toxicologists co-sponsored a two-day Symposium "Developing Global Strategies for Identifying, Prosecuting, and Treating Drug-Impaired Drivers" in Tampa, FL February 23-24, 2004. Approximately 125 international experts in drugged-driving from 14 nations gathered to discuss how technology for drug-detection can be used with DUI laws to support new strategies to reduce drugged driving, and develop a better understanding of the current problems with identifying, prosecuting, and treating drugged drivers.
Dr. Johan de Gier, President of ICADTS, was a featured speaker and led off the meeting with an epidemiological review discussing the prevalence of illegal drugs in drivers. Other featured speakers included: Dr. Olaf Drummer, Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine, Australia, who spoke on the Crash Risk of Drivers Using Drugs & Detecting Drugged Drivers, Dr. Barry Logan, Washington State Patrol, Seattle, WA spoke on Toxicology, Technology and Drugged Driving Laws, Dr. Yale Caplan, National Scientific Services, Baltimore, MD spoke on the State of the Art in Drug Detection Technology, John Bobo, Director of the National Traffic Law Center at the American Prosecutors Research Institute spoke on Enforcement and Prosecution of Drugged Driving Laws, Dr. Robert DuPont spoke on DUID Conviction is an Opportunity for Intervention. Dr. Alain Verstrate provided a Survey of European DUID Legislation and Dr. Michael Walsh surveyed U.S. DUID Legislation.
The meeting was designed to discuss the scope of the problem of drugged driving, establish what we know and don't know and document ongoing international efforts. Three expert working groups formed panels to discuss: 1) Identification of Drugged-Driver Issues, 2) Enforcement and Prosecution Issues, 3) Treatment, Education and Prevention Issues. With assistance from the general audience the panel members made many recommendations for future research in the areas of epidemiology, new technology, education/prevention and treatment efforts. The panels also proposed specific strategic policy initiatives that the U.S. federal government as well as other governments of the world could consider to manage the problem of drugged-driving. Dr. Michael Walsh, the meeting organizer, has indicated the proceedings of the meeting will be published in a monograph that should be available this summer.
Speeding drivers and those who repeatedly drive drunk are the targets of a new package of measures as part of the government's efforts to reduce the road toll. The package includes immediate license suspensions for speeding drivers who exceed the posted limit by 40 km/h as well as a new 28-day licence suspension and vehicle impoundment for a driver with a blood alcohol level exceeding 80mg/100ml or breath equivalent, where that person has previous drink drive convictions. Further work is being done on the issue of alcohol ignition interlocks that immobilise the vehicles of repeat drink drivers if they have been drinking. The government has also agreed in principle to introduce a new offence, for being impaired by illicit drugs while in control of a vehicle. This is tougher than the current regime, where it is an offence to drive under the influence of illicit drugs to the extent of being "incapable of proper control." For more information visit: www.ltsa.govt.nz/research/safety-interventions/index.html.
The Traffic Injury Research Foundation recently issued a report on DWI System Improvements: Stopping the Revolving Door. The report, authored by Robyn D. Robertson and Herb M. Simpson, outlines steps that U.S. federal and state policymakers should take to reform the DWI system and help reduce drunk driving deaths and injuries associated with repeat offenders. The report is the synthesis of a three-year research effort involving 2,700 law enforcement officers, 400 prosecutors, 900 judges and 900 probation and parole officers. This is the first comprehensive analysis of problems faced by those who deal with tens of thousands of repeat drunk driving offenders every year.
To advance the 62 recommendations contained in the report, TIRF has formed a Working Group on DWI System Improvements, in partnership with The American Judges Association, The American Probation and Parole Association, and the National Traffic Law Center of the American Prosecutors Research Institute, with assistance from The Highway Safety Committee of the International Association of Chiefs of Police. The Working Group will be meeting in the spring to draft an action plan for federal and state policymakers and traffic safety professional organizations to utilize as they begin the process of implementing changes needed to make the DWI system more effective and efficient. If you would like more information about the report or any other aspect of the study, go to the TIRF website at www.trafficinjuryresearch.com.
The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has issued a Technical Summary that updates its 2001 report, Evaluation of Enhanced Sanctions for Higher BACs: Summary of States' Laws. (DOT HS 809 215). Thirty-one states, as of January 2002, have a statute or regulation that provides for additional or more severe sanctions for DWI offenders with a "higher" blood alcohol concentration (BAC), that is, a BAC threshold above the level for a standard DWI charge. High-BAC sanctioning systems are based on evidence that DWI offenders with higher BACs are more likely (than DWI offenders with lower BACs) to be involved in a crash and more likely to recidivate. The objective of such systems is to reduce recidivism among this high-risk group of offenders by increasing the certainty and severity of punishment.
Most commonly, the high BAC threshold is either .15 (14 states) or .20 (6 states). States' high-BAC sanctioning systems vary widely in terms of complexity, the types and severity of enhanced sanctions, and whether the sanctions are mandatory. Some states have adopted high-BAC sanctions for a first offense that are comparable to those for a second DWI offense, for a BAC test refusal, or for a DWI offense with another "aggravating" circumstance. The report lists the types of sanctions for high-BAC first offenders ages 21 years and older. Most states report few problems with implementing high-BAC sanctions and believe they have had a positive impact on the state's DWI system.
The Technical Summary, which includes an evaluation of Minnesota's High-BAC Law and the original report, authored by Ann McCartt of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety are available free-of-charge on NHTSA's website: www.nhtsa.dot.gov.
A paper in Traffic Injury Prevention (Vol. 5, Issue 1, 2004) by Mark Johnson and Bob Voas of the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation discusses the benefits and risks of providing drinkers with tools that allow them to estimate their blood alcohol concentration (BAC), and to examine the field usability of one commercially available tool. Drinking and driving laws are specified in terms of the driver's BAC, and there is concern that the absence of a method for drivers to accurately estimate their BAC level limits their ability to determine whether they can drive legally. This article describes a pilot study on the field usability of the Guardian Angel (GA) personal alcohol test in a field setting. The GA test analyzes saliva samples from drinking and indicates under which BAC category they fall (.00-.04, .04-.08, .08+). The research examined whether drinkers could, in natural drinking environments, correctly administer and interpret the test results. The methodology involves sampling drinkers on a weekend night on and around the grounds of a large West Coast university as they traveled between off-campus parties, bars, and their dorms. They were asked to assess their own intoxication and impairment, then self-administer and interpret the Guardian Angel test. The results revealed that although the majority of drinkers' were able to administer the GA test, their interpretations did not correspond with actual BACs. The interpretations of the GA test produced false-negatives, underestimating actual BACs. Drinkers perceived themselves to be less intoxicated, on average, after interpreting the GA test results. The work underscores the importance of testing BAC estimation tools under field conditions and the potential risks associated with tests that do not produce accurate results.
A new study appearing in Addicition [2004, 99(2)], involving 300 current injecting drug users (IDU) examined the prevalence of drug driving, the prevalence of drug-related motor vehicle accidents, risk perceptions of drug driving and factors associated with drug driving among IDU in Sydney, Australia.
It was found that 95 per cent had driven a vehicle, 74% in the previous 12 months ('current drivers'). Eighty-seven per cent of life-time drivers reported having drug driven, and 88% of current drivers had drug driven in the previous 12 months. There were no significant sex differences in life-time or recent drug driving. The most common drugs used before driving in the preceding year were: cannabis, heroin, amphetamines and cocaine. A third of life-time drivers reported having had a drug driving accident, with males more likely to have done so, and 9% of current drivers reported a drug driving accident in the previous year. The most common drugs that had been used before the most recent drug driving accident were heroin, cannabis and alcohol. Alcohol was perceived to be the most dangerous substance for driving performance and cannabis the least dangerous. Recent drug drivers perceived drug driving to be less dangerous than non-drug drivers. Recent drug drivers had driven more frequently over the preceding 12 months, had significantly higher levels of dependence, higher frequency of drug use, more extensive polydrug use and were more likely to have used and/or injected a drug in a car in the previous 12 months.
The study, conducted by Shane Darke, of the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, University of New South Wales, and E. Kelly, and J. Ross, concluded that drug driving and drug-related accidents are large-scale public health problems among IDU. These behaviors pose serious risks to IDU themselves and to the broader community.
Motor-vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death among children aged 1 year in the United States, and one in four crash-related deaths among child passengers aged 14 years involves alcohol use. To characterize the occurrence of child passenger deaths involving drinking drivers during 1997-2002, CDC analyzed data from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The report summarizes the results of that analysis, which indicated that among the 2,335 children who died in alcohol-related crashes, 1,588 (68%) were riding with drinking drivers; the majority of these children were not restrained.
For all child passenger deaths, including those not involving drinking drivers, child passenger restraint use decreased as both the child's age and BAC of the child's driver increased. The report concluded that to reduce the number of child fatalities in alcohol-related motor-vehicle crashes, effective interventions are needed to prevent alcohol-impaired driving and to increase use of child passenger restraints. The report, prepared by Ruth Shults of the Centers for Diease Control and Prevention appeared in the February 9, 2004 edition of Morbitily and Mortality Weekly Report and can be viewed at: www.cdc.gov/mmwr.
The Prevention Research Center (PRC's) recently launched its new dissemination website: Resource Link: Research in Action. The web address is: resources.prev.org. This web site provides information and practical guidance to state and community agencies and organizations, policy makers, and members of the general public who are interested in combating alcohol and other drug abuse and misuse. The materials on the web site are based on the research and analysis conducted at PRC, including such subjects as underage drinking and the relationship between alcohol availability and alcohol problems. The site provides information about current and recently completed PRC projects, and access to useful publications by PRC scientists. PRC, funded primarily by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), was formed as part of the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation (PIRE) as a national center for prevention research. PRC's focus is on conducting research to better understand how social and physical environments influence alcohol and other drug use and misuse. For more information, contact Kathryn Stewart at: stewart@pire.org.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has issued a new report, Drugs and Human Performance Fact Sheets. The Fact Sheets are based on the state of current scientific knowledge and represent the conclusions of a panel of international experts on drug-impaired driving. They have been designed to provide practical guidance to toxicologists, pharmacologists, law enforcement officers, attorneys and the general public to use in the evaluation of future cases. Each individual drug Fact Sheet covers information regarding drug chemistry, usage and dosage information, pharmacology, drug effects, effects on driving, drug evaluation and classification (DEC), and the panel's assessment of driving risks. A list of key references and recommended reading is also provided for each drug. Readers are encouraged to use the Fact Sheets in connection with the other cited impaired driving-related texts. The selected drugs include over-the-counter medications such as dextromethorphan and diphenhydramine; prescription medications such as carisoprodol, diazepam and zolpidem; and abused and/or illegal drugs such as cocaine, GHB, ketamine, LSD, marijuana, methadone, methamphetamine, MDMA, morphine, PCP and toluene.
Each Fact Sheet concludes with general statements about the drugs' ability to impair driving performance. The authors strongly believe that all the above information needs to be taken into account when evaluating a drug. The report, authored by Barry K. Logan and Fiona J. Couper of the Washington State Patrol Forensic Laboratory Services Bureau, can be viewed on NHTSA's website at: www.nhtsa.dot.gov/people/injury/research/job185drugs/drugs_web.pdf
July 13-15, 2004
16th Annual Symposium on Alcohol and Drug Impaired Driving Enforcement-Clearwater, Florida USA
Visit the Institute of Police Technology and Management website at: www.iptm.org for information or to register.
August 8-13, 2004
17th International Conference on Alcohol, Drugs and Traffic Safety, T2004-Glasgow, United Kingdom
For information, contact Meeting Makers, 76 Southbrae Drive, Glasgow G13 1PP, Scotland, U.K., Tel: 44-141-434-1500, Fax: 44-141-434-1519,Email: icadts2004@meetingmakers.co.uk, or visit the conference website: www.ICADTS2004.com.
September 20-22, 2004
The Borkenstein Course on DUID: The Effects of Drugs on Human Performance and Behavior-Bloomington, Indiana USA
Contact: Center for Studies of Law in Action, Indiana Univ. Tel: 812-855-1783, Fax: 812-855-7542, Email: dlindsay@indiana.edu.
October 31-November 5, 2004
47th International Conference of the International Council on Alcohol and Addictions-Venice, Italy
For information, contact ICAA in Lausanne: Email: secretariat@icaa.ch, Tel: 0041-21-320-9865, Box 189, 1001 Lausanne, Switzerland, Website: www.icaa.ch.