alcohol – NRSO

ETSC Safe & Sober Campaign Workshop, Athens 2016

The European Transport Safety Council (ETSC), together with the Road Safety Institute ‘Panos Mylonas’ organised a round-table event under the auspices of the Ministry of Infrastructure, Transport and Networks and in cooperation with the Hellenic Institute of Trasportation Engineers in order to raise awareness amongst policy makers, the private sector and key opinion leaders of how to strenghten a systemic approach to reduce alcohol misuse in road transport, especially in poorly-performing EU Member States. The Workshop took place with great success on 21 March 2016 in Athens and NTUA Professor George Yannis coordinated the presentations and discussions among the more than 130 road safety decision makers, stakeholders and experts. During the conference the innovative system alcohol interlock was presented that does not allow the vehicle to start if the driver is found under the influence of alcohol.

Motorcycle riding under the influence of alcohol: Results from the SARTRE-4 survey – 2014

A paper titled ‘Motorcycle riding under the influence of alcohol: Results from the SARTRE-4 survey‘, co-authored by Eleonora Papadimitriou, Athanasios Theofilatos, George Yannis, Julien Cestac and Sami Kraïem is now published in Accident Analysis and Prevention. This research investigates the factors affecting the declared frequency of drink-riding among motorcyclists in Europe and explores regional differences. Data were collected from the SARTRE-4 (Social Attitudes to Road Traffic Risk in Europe) survey, which was conducted in 19 countries. A total sample of 4483 motorcyclists was interviewed by using a face-to-face questionnaire. The data were analyzed by means of multilevel ordered logit models. The results revealed significant regional differences (between Northern, Eastern and Southern European countries) in self-reported drink-riding frequencies in Europe. In general,declared drinking and riding were positively associated with gender (males), increased exposure, underestimation of risk, friends’ behaviour, past accidents and alcohol ticket experience. On the other hand, it was negatively associated with underestimation of the amount of alcohol allowed before driving, and support for more severe penalties.

Comparative analysis of factors affecting driving under the influence of alcohol of car drivers and motorcyclists 2014

A Diploma Thesis titled ‘Comparative analysis of factors affecting driving under the influence of alcohol of car drivers and motorcyclists‘ was presented by Dimitra Arvaniti in January 2014. The aim of this diploma thesis is to examine the factors affecting driving under the influence of alcohol of car drivers and motorcycles. To achieve this goal, the responses of a representative sample of Greek drivers of cars and motorcycles are examined from thepan-European research SARTRE 4 and are analyzed by the development of logistic regression models. The application of the models revealed that the factors affecting driving under the influence of alcohol are six for car drivers and seven for motorcyclists, four of which are common. The common parameters are: age, their opinion on whether most of their friends would be driving under the influence of alcohol, their opinion on whether a person is capable of driving carefully in case of consumption alcohol and their education level. Additional factors for car drivers are their view on the legal limit of alcohol consumption and their gender, and for motorcyclists it is their view on how dangerous driving under the influence of drugs is.

Reaction times of young alcohol-impaired drivers 2013

A paper titled ‘Reaction times of young alcohol-impaired drivers’ co-authored by Z.Christoforou, M.Karlaftis and G.Yannis is now available at the Accident Analysis and Prevention Journal. The paper focuses on young individuals who drive under the influence of alcohol and are having a higher relative risk of crash involvement; as such, the literature has extensively investigated the factors affecting such involvement through both post-accident surveys and simulator experiments. The results suggested that increased reaction times before consuming alcohol strongly affect post-consumption reaction times, while increased BrAC levels prolong reaction times, a 10% increase in BrAC levels results in a 2% increase in reaction time. Moreover, individuals with faster alcohol absorption times perform better regardless of absolute BrAC level, while recent meals lead to higher reaction times and regular exercising to lower reaction times.

Drink Driving: Towards Zero Tolerance 2012

In April 2012, ETSC published the report ‘Drink Driving: Towards Zero Tolerance‘. Drink driving is one of the three main killers. According to the European Commission’s estimates 25% of all road fatalities across the EU are alcohol related. This report provides an overview of the drink driving situation in the European Union and measures taken at the EU level to curb drink driving deaths. Countries’ progress in reducing road fatalities attributed to drink driving between 2001 and 2010 is also presented.

The three main killers on the roads 2010

In May 2010, ETSC published a PIN Flash concerning speed, alcohol and the use of seat belts, which are the three main risk factors on the road. Data from the countries that monitor mean driving speeds in free-flowing traffic show that drivers have slowed down appreciably since 2001. Deaths attributed to drink driving have decreased somewhat faster than other road deaths since 2001 in the EU – by about 5.8%. Although obligatory in all Member States, seat belt use in light vehicles in the EU is estimated to be only 88% for front seats and as low as 72% for rear seats.

Alcohol – A Road Safety Synthesis 2009

Alcohol as a major road safety issue has been highlighted at the recently released synthesis of the European Road Safety Observatory as prepared by the SafetyNet project. Alcohol is one of the biggest road safety problems, about 25% of all road fatalities in Europe are alcohol related whereas about only 1% of all kilometres driven in Europe are driven by drivers with 0.5 g/l alcohol in their blood or more. Compared to a sober driver the crash rate of a driver with a BAC of 0.8 g/l (still the legal limit in 3 of 25 EU-member states) is 2.7 times that of sober drivers. Not only the crash rate grows rapidly with increasing BAC, but the crash also becomes more severe.

WHO Drinking and Driving Safety Manual 2008

The manual ‘Drinking and driving: A road safety manual for decision-makers and practitioners ‘, was launched by the Global Road Safety Partnership (GRSP) ahead of the UN Road Safety Week. The good practice manual Drinking and driving, a road safety manual for decision-makers and practitioners, proposes simple, effective and low-cost solutions to prevent drinking and driving that can be implemented on a national or local level.

Enforcement impact on road accidents in Greece 2007

According to a recent NTUA research co-authored by G.Yannis, E.Papadimitriou and J.Gollias from NTUA, published in Accident Analysis and Prevention Journal, dealing with the ‘Multilevel modeling for the regional effect of enforcement on road accidents’, the effect of the intensification of Police enforcement of drinking and driving on the number of road fatalities at national and regional level was investigated, demonstrating that there are significant spatial dependences among road accidents and enforcement, which are interpreted better by qualitative similarities of the regions than geographical adjacency.

Greece performs well in drink driving deaths reduction 2007

In April 2007, ETSC published the PIN Flash. This report indicates that in Europe improvements in drink driving contribute their share to enhancing road safety. However, in nine countries, insufficient progress on reducing drink driving deaths has slowed down overall improvement over the last decade.