The organizing committees are putting together an exciting and informative scientific and social program for us, covering all the fields and topics we have come to expect from an ICADTS conference. In 2007, the 18th International Conference on Alcohol, Drugs and Traffic Safety will be meeting jointly with the International Association of Forensic Toxicologists (TIAFT), and the Alcohol Ignition Interlock Symposium, which offers additional opportunities for joint sessions and activities.
The conference will start on Sunday August 26th, 2007, with day long special sessions and workshops on topics including Drug and DUI Courts, Field Impairment Testing, Liquid Chromatography Mass Spectrometry, Topics in Postmortem Toxicology and Blood Drug Concentrations and Impairment. The ICADTS working groups will also meet on Sunday for work sessions. Each day of the conference will start with featured presentations from top U.S. and international policy leaders and opinion makers in the field of alcohol, drugs and driving, followed by our usual high quality scientific sessions featuring both oral and poster presentations.
We also have an outstanding social program. On Tuesday afternoon we will take a break from our hard work for tours of local sights and attractions. Our social program also includes a farewell banquet with Northwest food and drink, and receptions at the Seattle Museum of Flight, and Seattle Art Museum.
We are working to keep registration costs down, and will offer special rates for early registration, student attendees and young scientists, and developing country delegates. See the web site for details at www.T2007.org. Be sure to mark your calendars and make plans to submit your papers, and join us in Seattle in 2007!
ICADTS recognizes long-term, outstanding contributions to the field of alcohol, drugs and traffic safety through its Widmark and Haddon Awards. Individual Widmark Awards honor those who have made an outstanding, sustained and meritorious contribution to the field that have 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 awards are named in honor of Professor Erik M. P. Widmark of the University of Lund in western Sweden, whose comprehensive research work during the first half of the 20th century touched on all the aspects of the pharmacology of alcohol. The Widmark Award is the highest honor that ICADTS can confer on individuals and organizations who have made outstanding contributions to our field.
The Haddon Award recognizes those who have advocated scientifically based changes to public policy that have reduced the adverse effects of alcohol or other drugs on traffic safety. The award is named in honor of Dr. William Haddon, Jr., a physician and epidemiologist, who was a pioneer in the highway safety field. As a researcher and administrator, he contributed substantially to the development and application of effective methods to reduce motor vehicle injuries by insisting that the field be based on science.
The ICADTS Awards Committee is pleased to invite nominations for individual and institutional Widmark awards, and individual Haddon awards. Recipients will receive their awards at T2007, the 18th International Conference on Alcohol, Drugs and Traffic Safety in Seattle, Washington, USA in August 2007. Nominations for either award are to be submitted (preferably by email) to: Johan de Gier, Chair, ICADTS Awards Committee, Dept. of Pharmacoepidemiology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Utrecht University, PO Box 80082, Utrecht TB 3508, The Netherlands, Fax: +31 162 452960, email: degiercs@wxs.nl.
Nominations must be made by a full member of ICADTS and seconded by a full member. Candidates for the Widmark awards 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 of alcohol, drugs and traffic safety, it does not necessarily imply that an award will be made. All documentation for a nomination must be received by the Chair of the Awards Committee on or before December 31, 2006.
The ICADTS Executive Board elected 15 new full members and 3 affiliate members to ICADTS. This brings to almost 200 members active in ICADTS. Each new full member was nominated by two active ICADTS members and approved by the Membership Committee and the Executive Board. Affiliate member applicants only require one sponsor. The new full members include: Simone Klepp (Germany), Barry Watson and Jeffry Potter (Australia); Robin Robertson and Ward Vanlaar (Canada); Flavio Penchansky (Brazil); David Evans ( South Africa); and Christine Moore, Jane Maxwell, Rhonda Moore, Marilyn Huestis, Adrian Lund, Neil Chaudhary, Sara Hansen, and James Hutchison, Jr., (USA). The new affiliate members include: Emily Haire and Toby Taylor (USA), and Karen Stephan (Australia).
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 (www.ICADTS.org) or by contacting the ICADTS Secretary, Asbjørg S. Christopherson, at: asbjorg.christophersen@fhi.no. The entire membership process can now be conducted on-line. Dues for ICADTS members is $85 per year which includes a subscription to the ICADTS journal, Traffic Injury Prevention (with online access), and a reduction in the T'2007 conference registration fee. New members elected in the remainder of 2006, will not be required to pay dues until 2007.
A new scientific review, conducted by Jim Fell and Bob Voas of Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, provides a summary of the evidence regarding the benefits of reducing the illegal blood alcohol concentration (BAC) limit for driving and providing a case for enacting a .05 BAC limit. Fourteen independent studies in the United States indicate that lowering the illegal BAC limit from .10 to .08 has resulted in 5-16% reductions in alcohol-related crashes, fatalities, or injuries. However, the illegal limit is .05 BAC in numerous countries around the world. Several studies indicate that lowering the illegal per se limit from .08 to .05 BAC also reduces alcohol-related fatalities. Laboratory studies indicate that impairment in critical driving functions begins at low BACs and that most subjects are significantly impaired at .05 BAC. The relative risk of being involved in a fatal crash as a driver is 4 to 10 times greater for drivers with BACs between .05 and .07 compared to drivers with .00 BACs.
There is strong evidence in the literature that lowering the BAC limit from .10 to .08 is effective, that lowering the BAC limit from .08 to .05 is effective, and that lowering the BAC limit for youth to .02 or lower is effective. These law changes serve as a general deterrent to drinking and driving and ultimately save lives. The authors conclude that this critical review supports the adoption of lower illegal BAC limits for driving. The review will appear in the Journal of Safety Research.
A paper by E. Raes and A.G. Verstraete of Belgium reviewed the use of cannabis in Europe. In Europe, three million people consume cannabis every day. Investigations showed that more than two thirds of drug users drive after having smoked cannabis. Epidemiological studies show that between 0.5% and 8.2% of the general driving population is positive for cannabis. For drivers injured or killed as a result of an accident, the percentage varies respectively from 3.3% to 10% and from 2.2% to 8.4%. Finally, very high percentages are found in the studies which analysed the presence of drugs in drivers suspected of driving under the influence of drugs: more than 50% in Austria, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Six European countries adopted an analytical or 'per se' legislation and the cut-offs vary between 0.3 and 2 ng/mL THC. In the Netherlands, experimental studies carried out after administration of cannabis clearly showed the impairing effects, in particular in the event of simultaneous consumption of cannabis and alcohol. Various research projects financed by the European Union studied the epidemiologic aspects (IMMORTAL), detection by psychotechnical tests (CERTIFIED) and roadside drug detection (ROSITA and ROSITA-2). The paper appeared in Vol. 64, No. 3, 2006 of Annales Pharmaceutiques Francaises (Paris).
In a Journal of Safety Research (Vol. 37, 2006) paper, Allan F. Williams addresses progress in dealing with the alcohol-impaired driving problem in the United States during the past 25 years. In the 1980s and continuing into the early 1990s, major decreases occurred in alcohol-impaired driving and its consequences. The contribution of alcohol to fatal crashes dropped by 35-40% during this period. Two primary reasons for the decline appear to be the emergence of citizen activist groups that mobilized public support and attention to the problem, and the proliferation of effective laws. Since about 1995 the alcohol-impaired driving problem has stabilized at a reduced but still quite high level.
Highway safety organizations and citizen activist groups have continued to highlight the problem, but its status as a social issue has diminished. We basically know what the primary target groups are, and we know measures that would work to reduce the problem if implemented more fully. We know that political leadership, state task forces, and media advocacy are important ingredients in addressing the problem. It is likely that a resurgence in citizen activism will be necessary to foster these elements and refocus the nation on the unfinished battle against alcohol-impaired driving. Alcohol-impaired driving is still a major problem that needs continuing attention.
The European Commission (EC) has released a report that examines the effectiveness of efforts to reach its goal of halving the number road fatalities by 2010. The report is accompanied by an EC staff working paper that contains accident statistics, an overview of European Union legislation on road safety, a selection of projects financed by the EC in the area, and some examples of the commitments entered into by citizens in the framework of the European Road Safety Charter.
The Transport White Paper adopted in 2001 proposed the target of halving the number of road fatalities by 2010. In 2001, 50 000 people were killed on the roads in the countries which makeup the EU today. Figures for 2005 show that about 41 600 people were killed; a decrease of 17.5% over 4 years.
At the present rate, road deaths in the European Union in 2010 are likely to stand at 32 500, and the target of a maximum of 25 000 will probably not be achieved. The European action programme encourages several Member States, which had not done so, to adopt national road safety plans.
The Member States have also adopted initiatives to combat driving under the influence of alcohol, drugs or medicines: a lower BAC level (generally 0.2 mg/ml) for new drivers and professional drivers in some countries; stricter penalties for drinking and driving; and legislative action to prevent driving under the influence of drugs. Checks are now carried out more frequently and are targeted, effective, reliable and fast, especially when carried out at the roadside. The paper can be read at: http://ec.europa.eu/transport/road/library/rsap_midterm/rsap_mtr_communication_en.pdf.
The U.S. Federal Highway Administration, Office of International Programs has released a report that examines Australia's accomplishments in highway safety and performance measures it has established. From nearly identical rates of deaths per capita in 1980, the Australian rate has fallen to a point where it is now little more than half the U.S. rate.
Based on interviews with politicians, senior agency staff, and others, the report also explores how traffic safety strategies were put together and, above all, how they were implemented, often amid public controversy but with majority community support. One of the major countermeasures introduced was the increase in random breath testing for the detection of alcohol-impaired drivers by a factor of at least five, to a point where (statistically) one in three Victorian drivers could be expected to be tested in any given year.
To view the full report, visit: http://www.international.fhwa.dot.gov/halving_fatalities/halving_fatalities.pdf.
The most important psychoactive ingredient in cannabis, THC, is one of the most frequently detected substances in blood samples from suspected impaired drivers in Norway. Experimental studies have provided useful information on the role of THC and dose-effect relations with respect to psychomotor performance. The main purpose of the present study was to investigate whether a physician's judgment on impairment in a real-life setting among suspected drugged drivers, was related to blood THC concentration.
In Norway a police physician performs a clinical test for impairment (CTI) shortly after apprehension. The Norwegian Institute of Public Health analyzes blood samples from all drivers suspected of driving under the influence of non-alcoholic drugs. In the present study, 589 samples from approximately 30,000 cases of suspected drug impaired driving from the period 1997-99, contained THC as the only drug. In 456 of these cases a conclusion of the CTI was available. 230 (54%) drivers were considered not impaired and 226 (46%) impaired. Impaired drivers had higher blood THC concentration than the drivers who were judged as not impaired (median; 2.5 ng/mL [range; 0.3-45.3 ng/mL] vs 1.9 ng/mL [range; 0.32-24.8 ng/mL], p < 0.05). Furthermore, drivers with blood THC concentrations above 3 ng/mL had an increased risk for being judged impaired compared to drivers with lower concentration ranges. The authors concluded that the relationship between the concentration of THC in blood and risk of being assessed impaired found in this cross-sectional study of suspected drugged drivers, supports findings from previous experimental studies of concentration related effects of THC on psychomotor performance and driving skills. The study was conducted by Hassan Z. Khiabani, Jørgen G. Bramness, Anders Bjørneboe, and Jørg Mørland of the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Division of Forensic Toxicology and Drug Abuse. It appeared in Traffic Injury Prevention, Vol. 17, No. 2, 2006.
Australia's Monash University Accident Research Centre has produced a report that explores operational principles of drink-driving enforcement and examines issues associated with drivers who have not been influenced by current enforcement methods. In reviewing the existing drink-driving enforcement research conducted both in Australia and internationally, key strategic principles were developed. They include, among others: random breath testing (RBT) achieves its effects principally through the mechanism of general deterrence; when conducted intensively, RBT can result in substantial reductions in fatal and series injury crashes at night; and the visibility of the RBT operations and/or the capacity of the testing stations to test high proportions of passing motorists, are important factors in increasing the general deterrence effect of RBT. The report also reviews research needs in the area of drink-driving enforcement. It can be viewed at: www.monash.edu.au/murac/reports/murac249.pdf.
The objective of a study that appeared in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol (Vol. 67, No. 5, 2006) was to determine the accuracy of the passive alcohol sensor (PAS) unit for estimating the blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of drivers and study its potential use as a screening device for estimating BAC in relation to several factors related to its use (age, gender, light conditions, and police confidence in the PAS measure). The effectiveness of driving while intoxicated (DWI) operations in deterring impaired driving depends on the ability of police officers to detect heavy drinkers. The PAS, which can detect alcohol in expired breath at a distance of 6 inches from the face, provides a means for detecting heavy drinking within 15-30 seconds. A recent study funded by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration of the BAC levels of crash-involved and randomly stopped drivers as a control group for comparison provided 12,587 cases in which both a breath test and a PAS measure of BAC were obtained for each driver studied.
PAS scores were a strong predictor of a driver's BAC status. The only other variable having a significant and consistent relationship independent of PAS was police confidence. By selecting a PAS cut-point score appropriate to the enforcement operation being undertaken, the PAS can be an effective tool for officers when deciding whether to initiate a DWI investigation. The study was conducted by Robert Voas, Eduardo Romano and R. Peck.
Drinking-driving is a leading cause of preventable morbidity and mortality in Canada. The purpose of a paper published in Drug and Alcohol Review (Vol. 25, No. 4, 2006) was to examine factors that influenced drinking driver deaths in Ontario. They examined the impact of per capita consumption of total alcohol, and of beer, wine and spirits separately, on drinking-driving deaths in Ontario from 1962 to 1996, as well as the impact of the introduction of Canada's per se law and the founding of People to Reduce Impaired Driving Everywhere - Mothers Against Drunk Driving (PRIDE - MADD) Canada. They utilised time-series analyses with autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) modelling. As total alcohol consumption increased, drinking driving fatalities increased. The introduction of Canada's per se law, and of PRIDE-MADD Canada, acted to reduce drinking driving death rates. Among the specific beverage types, only consumption of beer had a significant impact on drinking driver deaths. Several factors were identified that acted to increase and decrease drinking driver death rates.
Of particular interest was the observation of the impact of beer consumption on these death rates. In North America, beer is taxed at a lower rate than other alcoholic beverages. The role of taxation policies as determinants of drinking-driving deaths is discussed. The authors of the paper were Robert Mann, Rosely Flam Zalcman, Mark Asbridge, Helen Suurvali and Norman Giesbrecht.
October 16-18, 2006
20th World Congress of the International Traffic Medicine Association - Melbourne, Australia
Visit www.trafficmedicine.org for information.
October 22-25, 2006
7th International Annual Interlock Symposium - Beaver Creek, Colorado, USA
Visit www.ignitioninterlocksymposium.com for information.
December 3-8, 2006
The Robert F. Borkenstein Course on Alcohol and Highway Safety: Testing, Research and Litigation
Contact: Center for Studies of Law in Action, Indiana Univ. Tel: 812-855-1783, Fax: 812-855-7542, Email: dlindsay@indiana.edu. Visit www.indiana.edu/~lawactn for information.
January 21-25, 2007
86th Annual Meeting of the U.S. Transportation Research Board - Washington, D.C., USA
Alcohol and drug impaired driving technical sessions, meetings of the TRB Committee on Alcohol, Other Drugs and Transportation and the ICADTS Executive Board will be featured.
Visit www.trb.org/trb/meeting for meeting information.
August 26-31, 2007
T'2007 - 18th International Conference on Alcohol, Drugs and Traffic Safety - Seattle, Washington, United States
Sponsored by ICADTS, The International Association of Forensic Toxicologists and the Ignition Interlock Symposium.
Visit www.ICADTS2007.org for info.