Strong predictor of traffic recidivism profile: Drug and alcohol addiction and inability to dissociate excessive alcohol or drug use when driving. Revoking your driver's license may not be enough.
The underlying causes of repeat offending behavior may be the tip of an iceberg that represents a global health problem that serves to detect other serious social, family, and occupational problems.
This study seeks to identify the factors that predict the profile of recidivism in driving, analyzing not only the consumption of alcohol and/or drugs, but also their ability to dissociate the use of alcohol and other substances from driving.
A total of 315 drivers, 97 offenders (95.9 % men) and 218 non-offenders (47.2 % men) answered a battery of questionnaires on: drinking habits (measured with the AUDIT); drug use (measured with the DAST-20); ability to dissociate alcohol and substance use from driving; educational level; self-reported traffic offenses, errors and lapses (measured with the DBQ, Driver Behaviour Questionnaire); and socio-demographic questions.
The model showed good indicators of fit (R2 = 0.74) and good predictive power: (1) it correctly classified 91 % of participants as either offending or non-offending drivers (2) more specifically, its sensitivity was 88 %, having correctly classified offenders as repeat offenders. And its specificity was 92 %, having correctly classified non-offenders as non-recidivists.
The findings underline that alcohol use is a key predictor of offending behavior, together with drug use. These addictions are a health problem, and their consequences are more severe when the person drives a vehicle.
This article also shows that repeat offenders are less able to dissociate alcohol and substance use from driving than non-recidivists. Non-reoffenders are more able than repeat offenders to dissociate drinking from driving: repeat offenders admit that they would drive after having 5 or more drinks, or after using cannabis. More than half of non-recidivists also admitted to driving after drinking 1 or 2 beers.
Withdrawing driving licenses from repeat offenders may not be enough. Programmes should be put in place to help them to stop using alcohol and drugs, at least while driving. This could be achieved, for example, by motivational interventions and/or referral for detoxification treatment in severe addiction cases.
For more information, please, check the full reference:
Castro, C., Doncel, P., Dinu, A.I. & Padilla, F. (2023). Strong predictors of offender drivers: drug and alcohol addiction and the inability to dissociate binge alcohol or drug consumption from driving. Revoking their driver’s licence may not be enough. Transportation Research Part F. Traffic Psychology & Behaviour, 92, 337-352 DOI: 10.1016/j.trf.2022.12.002