Professor Jarmo Pikkarainen, Widmark award winner and President of the International Association for Accident and Traffic Medicine and Editor of the official ICADTS journal, the Journal of Traffic Medicine, died on the 7th of October 1995.
Born in Helsinki in 1933, the son and grandson of physicians, he graduated in Medicine at Turku University in 1963. He became the Director of the Biochemistry Department at the National Institute for Public Health. His work in traffic medicine brought him national and international recognition. For nearly twenty years, he pioneered the study of drinking and driving through roadside surveys. His database has become one of the largest in the world, is unique in providing longitudinal study information and a source of many important papers, often in association with Prof. Anti Penttila. Together they demonstrated the changing nature of the drink drive population over time with decreasing numbers of social drinkers and increasing proportions of recidivist problem drinkers. They were the first to use biological markers in roadside survey populations.
In 1986 he was elected Chairman of the Nordic Association for Traffic Medicine and held the position for many years. His outstanding contribution to traffic medicine was recognized by election to the International Council for Alcohol, Drugs, and Traffic Safety and the presentation of the Widmark Award at Cologne in 1992.
Not surprisingly, many research workers visited him in Helsinki. All were greeted with the same warmth and helpfulness. Each would see a roadside checkpoint set up for the visit and leave astonished by the unique cooperation between police and scientist. To those who knew him well, his relationship with the police was no surprise. In Jarmo's way, the cooperation was based on friendship. Colleagues appreciated his loyalty, support, and readiness to be there when it mattered.
Jarmo was a big bear of a man, enormously warm and humorous, enjoying life to the full. He had a generous spirit and gave help unstintingly to colleagues around the world where others might have been unforthcoming. For him, academic activities like everything else in life were meant to be fun. Jarmo often said that
life was for living and every gram of fat had been put on with great pleasure.
He loved life hugely and enriched it for all his friends in many countries. We remember him as a great Finn, and a great friend. He is survived by his wife Seija who shared his love of life and travel, four children and grandchildren.
In a paper presented at T'95 in Adelaide, Inspector Michael Moloney of the Traffic Alcohol Section of the Police Traffic Centre, Brunswick, Victoria, Australia, described Random Breath Testing in Victoria. The program has established itself as an outstandingly successful method in preventing "alcohol affected driving". Since its introduction in 1976, but particularly since its re-structuring in 1989, Victoria has witnessed a dramatic reduction in drivers killed over the legal blood alcohol limit, which in Victoria is 0.05 per centum. In 1977, 49% of all drivers killed were found to be excess of 0.05%. In 1992 that figure was reduced to an all time low of 21%. The Victorian RBT programme has focused its entire campaign on the basis of the principles, as espoused by Prof Ross Homel, namely that it must be: highly visible; rigorously enforced so as to ensure credibility; must be sustained; and it must be well publicised. All principles are vital to its success.
In its December 1, 1995 Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (Vol. 44, No. 47), the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) presented an update of alcohol-related traffic crashes and fatalities among youth and young adults in the U.S. covering a period from 1982 to 1994. CDC noted that despite an overall decline in alcohol involvement among drivers in fatal crashes during the period, a substantial proportion of young drivers in fatal crashes had a positive BAC. About one-third of the deaths among persons aged 15-24 results from motor vehicle crashes - 10,455 in 1994 alone. From 1982 to 1994, the proportion of crash deaths that were alcohol-related decreased 46% for drivers 15-17 years of age, 35% for drivers 18-20, 22% for drivers 21-24, and 25% for drivers 25 or older. In 1994, 29% of the 2,610 traffic fatalities involving persons 15-17 years old were alcohol related. For 18-20 years old, the percentage was 44%.
Because of this continuing problem, the CDC and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (who provided the crash statistics) recommend additional prevention activities targeted specifically to young drivers to prevent injuries and deaths in alcohol-related crashes. These should include, among others, zero tolerance laws, which prohibit alcohol use by underage drivers. To obtain a copy of the report, contact Dr. Robert D. Brewer at the CDC at Fax: 770-488-1317.
The U.S. National Association of Governors' Highway Safety Representatives (NAGHSR) has selected five metropolitan areas to serve as test sites to target underage drinking. The selected areas include Omaha, NE, Detroit, MI, Salt Lake City, UT, Austin, TX and suburban Richmond, VA. Each city will receive technical assistance to implement a one year comprehensive underage drinking prevention project. The project is funded by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
NAGHSR also announced the availability of Promising Approaches in the Prevention of Underage Drinking, a final report of ten successful case studies of state programs to combat underage drinking. Successful projects include: The Network of Community Traffic Safety Programs in North Dakota, Athletes Helping Athletes in New York, Alcohol and Smoke Free Residential Facilities and Entertainment Centers in New Jersey, State Initiated Alcohol Awareness Seminars in Massachusetts, Fraudulent Identification Detection in Virginia, Media Campaigns to Target Parents in Washington, the Underage Drinking Prevention Coalition in Maryland, the Teenwork Statewide Youth Conference in California, the Alcohol-Decisions peer to peer teaching strategies in Minnesota and the Ohio None for Under 21 public information campaign. To receive a copy of the report, contact NAGHSR at 202-789-0942. (Source: NAGHSR Press Release, November 15, 1995)
In most countries, the driver's license of a person convicted of drinking driving is suspended or revoked. The license is generally eligible for reinstatement when the suspension period is over. Research has shown that most drivers arrested for DWI, especially those with high BACs, have problems with alcohol and many of them continue to drink and drive after their license has been returned. However, a number of countries, including Switzerland, Sweden and the United Kingdom, have programs to require the driver to provide medical proof that they have their problem with alcohol under control, before they can have their license returned.
These programs vary from country to country. In order to develop guidelines for undertaking such a program, ICADTS established a working group to study the topic. The group is chaired by Johan de Gier of the Netherlands, and received financial support from the Directorate General for Transport of the Commission of the European Communities. After gathering information from many countries and reviewing the research on the effects of these programs, Wolf-Rüdigar Nickel of Germany drafted a set of guidelines that appear in a final report containing the recommended guidelines for conducting a comprehensive regranting of licenses program.
The purpose of the report, Regranting of Driving Licenses, is to facilitate discussion on the topic and to assist policy makers, administrators and legislators in the developing regranting procedures which cut down effectively on recidivism and crashes. To obtain a copy of the ICADTS report, contact Dr. de Gier, at Fax: 31-43-325-7380. It is free for ICADTS members and $25 for non members.
The ICADTS Executive Board recently elected new members to ICADTS. They include: John V. Moulden (USA), James W. Landrum (USA), Dr. Brian A. Jonah (CAN), Dr. Peter Valverius (S), Dr. Paul M. Williams (UK), Roy E. Lucke (USA), Dr. Kenneth H. Beck (USA), Inger Marie Bernhoft (DK), Dr. David Sleet (USA), Dr. Judith Perl (AUS), Dr. Fritz Meyer-Gramcko (D), Dr. Gorden S. Smith (USA), Dr. Harold D. Holder (USA), and Kees Heijster (ND). Each new member was nominated by two active ICADTS members, approved by the Membership Committee and the Executive Board. Affiliate membership was also approved for Dr. Edward J. Ogden (AUS) and T. Perinpanayagam (SRI). Colleagues working in the field of alcohol, drugs and traffic safety who are interested in becoming members of ICADTS, contact ICADTS Secretary Barry Sweedler, % NTSB, Washington, D.C. 20594, USA, Tel: 202-382-6810 or Fax: 202-382-8006 for an application.
Despite progress in reducing alcohol-impaired crashes, the problem will not be solved until changes are made in the public's beliefs and attitudes toward drinking and driving. One approach is to establish stricter anti-DWI standards of behavior that people will follow because they consider them proper and acceptable. In a recently completed study, conducted for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Sociometrics, Inc. examined how various health oriented norms have been established and determined how to apply the lessons learned to prevent drinking and driving behavior.
It was found that the health campaigns were effective when their messages were publicized in a varied and sustained manner. each campaign used public service announcements (PSAs) to promote their cause, but paid advertising was also required to target messages to the appropriate audiences. Support from the entertainment industry also helped the campaigns. Legislation and enforcement emphasize the seriousness of specific issues. When laws are enacted, they clarify society's values and norms. When they are enforced, they signal the inappropriateness of the banned behavior.
Strategies for DWI programs in the report include: educating the public about the dangers of DWI, integrating DWI prevention into formal classroom education, correcting misconceptions about drinking and driving, being clear and consistent about enforcing DWI laws, promoting increased taxation on alcohol for local DWI programs, making everyone a stakeholder in the DWI legislative process and encouraging support for new DWI legislation to encourage tougher laws and to keep DWI issues in the media. To obtain a copy of Lessons Learned from Public Health Campaigns and Applied to Anti-DWI Norms Development, contact Amy Berning at NHTSA, Fax: 202-366-7096.
In a paper presented at the Third International Conference on Safety and the Environment in the 21st Century - Lessons from the Past, Shaping the Future, November 7-10, 1994, Tel Aviv, Israel, J.M. Sohn, and ICADTS member F. Meyer-Gramcko, described the German program "Driver Therapy". The target group consists of drivers who have been classified as both disqualified for driving and not eligible for the Medico-Psychological Institutes (MPI) driver improvement programs. The treatment has been conceived as an individual therapy. This therapy aims at both identifying and at changing the behavioral patterns that caused massive or repeated traffic offenses. The treatment consists of the following four parts: (1) an initial therapy; (2) the actual therapy; (3) the final examination; and (4) an internal multi-step evaluation conducted after the therapy. The results of the road traffic probation period of 234 clients with driving under the influence of alcohol (DUI) offenses have been compiled. It appears that only 13 clients have committed another DUI offense within a three-year period. It is concluded that the therapy of road traffic behavior is apt to effect a significant reduction of the reconviction probability. (Source: Alcohol, Drugs and Traffic Safety, Vol. 13, 1995, No. 3).
The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recently released a study of how existing values can be used to motivate sober driving. The study was carried out by the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation under the direction of ICADTS member Kathryn Stewart. It included one-on-one discussions and focus groups with drivers aged 18 to 29 in three locations: Montgomery County, Maryland; Madison,Wisconsin; and Palo Alto, California. Participants were asked about the things they most value in their life and about the settings and situations where the normally drink -- and sometimes drink and drive.
Respondents reported strong attitudes against impaired driving. Nonetheless, about two-thirds reported that they had driven after drinking so much that they would have been in trouble with the police if stopped. The reasons for impaired driving among this group seemed simple: They have lifestyles that include frequent drinking and at least occasional drinking to intoxication. In fact, the social life of most respondents seems to revolve around drinking -- primarily in bars and restaurants with groups of same-sex or mixed-sex friends. Most respondents reported using a variety of techniques to avoid drinking and driving, but not always with success. For example, 80 percent of the respondents reported using a designated driver on a regular bases. About two-thirds of these individuals said that the designated diver usually drank -- many times to the point of intoxication. In fact, one of the situations frequently reported by respondents that led to driving when they felt they had drunk too much was when the designated driver had become even more intoxicated. Respondents also expressed strong negative feelings about being a designated driver and a lack of respect for designated drivers.
Friends (along with family) topped the list of things most valued in life among respondents. Friends also often provided motivation to over-drink (by encouraging or even pressuring drinking). Thus, a values-based approach suggested by this study was to use the value of friendship as a motivation for preventing drinking and driving -- encouraging the already-present desire to protect and be responsible for friends and discouraging pressuring friends to drink. The study also suggested that countermeasures approaches could include providing a positive image of the designated driver and teaching the practical skills needed to avoid drinking and driving.
For a copy of the report, Motivating Anti-DWI Behavior Using Existing Values, contact the Office for Program Development and Evaluation, NHTSA, NTS-30, 400 Seventh Street, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20590 or Tel: 202-366-2752, or Fax: 202-366-7096.
At the ICADTS Executive Board meeting in Washington, on January 9, 1996, three new working groups were established. The first group will cover Prescribing Guidelines for Medicinal Drugs and Driving and be co chaired by Prof. F. Javier Alverez of Spain and Dr. Johan de Gier of the Netherlands. Any ICADTS member wishing to contribute to the work of the group, should contact Dr. Alverez at Tel: 34-83-423077, Fax: 34-83-423022. The second group will cover a Toxonomy for Breath Testing Equipment and be chaired by Dr. Robert Voas of the United States. Those wishing to work on this project can contact Dr. Voas at Tel: 301-469-2908, Fax: 301-907-8637. The third working group will develop a Multilingual Glossary of Terms on Alcohol, Drugs and Traffic Safety. Wolf Rüdiger Nickel, Chairman of the working group would welcome offers of assistance from people who are bilingual in major European languages and who have knowledge and expertise in the field. Contact him at Tel: 49-8957911947, Fax: 49-89579121183 or 49-531316139 or E-mail: 0531316139@T-ONLINE.DE.
January 7-11, 1996
75th Annual Meeting of the U.S. Transportation Research Board - Washington, D.C., USA
Contact Dr. Richard Pain, Tel: 202-334-2960, Fax: 202-334-2003.
April 14-17, 1996
Lifesavers - National Conference on Highway Safety Priorities - Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA
Contact Lifesavers Conference, P.O. Box 30045, Alexandria, VA 22310, Fax: 703-922-7944
May 5-8, 1996
Alcohol Policy X - Reducing Risk Among Young Adults - Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Contact Norman Giesbrecht, Ph. D, Addiction Research Foundation, 33 Russell Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 2S1, Tel: 416-595-6029, Fax: 416-595-6899
September 11-15, 1996
The Annual Meeting of the National Association of Governors Highway Safety Representatives - Nashville, TN, USA
Contact NAGHSR at 750 First Street, NE, Suite 720, Washington, DC 20002, USA, Tel: 202-789-0942, Fax: 202-789-0946.
October 7-9, 1996
40th Annual Conference of the Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine - Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Contact AAAM at 2340 Des Plaines Avenue, Suite 106, Des Plaines, IL 60018, USA. Tel: 708-390-8927, Fax: 708-390-9962.
October 14-19, 1996
26th Anniversary Meeting of the Society of Forensic Toxicologists - Denver, Colorado, USA
Contact Laurel J. Farrell or Robert Zettl, Colorado Department of Public Heath and Environment, P.O. Box 17123, Denver, CO 80217, USA, Tel: 303-691-4727/4738.
September 21-25, 1997
T'97 -- The 14th International Conference on Alcohol, Drugs and Traffic Safety - Annecy, France
Contact T'97 Secretariat at CERMT, BP 132, 74004 Annecy Cedex, France, Tel: 33-50-45-36-23, Fax: 33-50-45-36-92.