Drinking and driving at different legal bac limits in europe

This paper presents the first results of a questionnaire survey of drivers in 15 European countries. It covers a wide range of biographical data, together with opinions and attitudes to almost all road safety topics. It was conducted by national poll institutes, using a combination of random sampling and quota sampling. More than 15,000 drivers participated. The surveollected data were processed by INRETS in France. Complex multivariate analysis is to be applied, to obtain the final results, expected by the end oopean countries of: (1) drivers who report never driving under the influence of alcohol; (2) drivers who have been breathalysed; (3) probability of an alcohol test (breathalysing) on a typical journey; (4) drivers in favour of more breath tests; and (5) drivers supporting a lower blood alcohol concentration (BAC) limit or a ban on alcohol for drivers. The comparisons compare drivers from ten countries with a legal BAC limit of 0.08% with drivers from five countries with lower legal limits. Drivers in the latter countries state more often that they: (1) never drive after drinking; (2) have been stopped and breathalysed by police at least once; and (3) expect to be stopped thus on a typical journey. For the covering abstract see IRRD 866577.