DRINKING PASSENGERS AND THEIR DRIVERS: ROADSIDE SURVEY RESULTS

Among the approaches suggested for dealing with drinking-driving is for an unimpaired passenger to drive. However, present little is known about the BACs of passengers. A few studies have examined BACs of injured or killed passengers. We provide passenger BAC data for a representative sample of the nighttime driving population. In those vehicles with two or more passengers and at least one drinker, the passenger has the higher BAC in 68% of cases. However, 61% of legally impaired drivers had no passenger and among legally impaired drivers with a passenger, 53% of passengers also had an illegal BAC.