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To cite this article: Emir Smailović, Krsto Lipovac, Dalibor Pešić & Boris Antić (2019) Factors
associated with driving under the influence of alcohol, Traffic Injury Prevention, 20:4, 343-347, DOI:
10.1080/15389588.2019.1605168
Article views: 98
CONTACT Emir Smailovic e.smailovic@sf.bg.ac.rs Faculty of Transport and Traffic Engineering, Department for Traffic Safety and Road Vehicles, Vojvode
Stepe 305, Belgrade 11000, Serbia.
Associate Editor Kathy Stewart oversaw the review of this article.
Supplemental data for this article can be accessed on the publisher’s website.
ß 2019 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
344 ET AL.
E. SMAILOVIC
All drivers of specific vehicle categories (DSC) are inclined largest number of variables should be included in order to
to DUI. The initial hypothesis is that commercial drivers are examine the effect of individual variables. Reviewing the lit-
involved in alcohol-related traffic crashes less frequently, so dif- erature, we found a few variables related to DUI and
ferent risk factors are expected than for car drivers, bicyclists, involvement in traffic crashes. Variables such as gender, age,
and motorcyclists. For the efficient decrease in DUI prevalence, and driver experience have been proven more than once,
the importance and potential of factors for all driver groups but their potential for prevention is less well known. In add-
have to be determined. The contribution of the study is defin- ition, data availability and reliability represent limitations for
ing the risk factors for each driver category individually and the realization of such a study. Rejecting unclear and
determining the priority of the prevalence of DUI for the unknown variables collected in the research on traffic
whole population of drivers. Engaging significant resources crashes, we systematized the selection of the variables exam-
(human and financial) in order to effect a certain factor will ined in this study into the following 8 factors:
not lead to satisfactory results if the factor’s potential is limited.
The aim of this study is to examine the potential of the preva- Age (number of years)
lence factor in order to direct the activities in an optimal man- Gender (male or female)
ner. The prevalence potential was observed on the basis of Use of restraint systems (seat belt or helmet)
drivers’ involvement in DUI crashes and non-DUI crashes. Driver experience (number of years between obtaining a
The analysis of risk factors for DSC was carried out in order driver’s license and involvement in a traffic crash; not
to establish the potential for prevalence and drivers of specific including bicyclists)
vehicle category, applying 5 different logistic models. The score Trip/journey purpose (mandatory or nonmandatory)
and potential for the prevalence of risk factors was obtained Drivers of specific vehicle categories
using the Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Responsibility for the crash: Driver; driver of the other
Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) for DUI crashes and non-DUI crashes. vehicle or other
Area of the crash (urban or rural).
Methods
Involvement in a traffic crash represents a combination
This study is based on the factors associated with DUI of a number of risk factors, such as exposure, speeding, lack
among drivers involved in road traffic crashes in Serbia in of attention, mistakes, alcohol consumption, and others.
2016. For each driver involved in a traffic crash in Serbia, Alcohol, as one of the influential factors, was isolated in this
the data are recorded in the National Traffic Accident research and its impact was studied. Exposure was not the
Database (see Appendix B, online supplement). The database subject of the research; it was studied indirectly through the
contains data on drivers involved in traffic crashes and correlation between exposure and involvement in traffic
details of the crash. The national database includes the data crashes. In addition to exposure, factors such as speed, alco-
obtained from the official police investigation of the traffic hol consumption and lack of attention are correlated with
crash conducted immediately following the crash. involvement in traffic crashes. The study considered the
The study is based on all drivers involved in traffic drivers involved in traffic crashes, which involves all of the
crashes in Serbia in 2016. Fatally injury drivers, injured driv- mentioned impacts, and alcohol was isolated and dealt with
ers, and drivers without injuries were the subjects of this separately in this study.
study. Frivers without injuries were included in this study For car, bus, and truck drivers, the variable use of
because a large number of these drivers were under the restraint systems implies the use of seat belts, whereas for
influence of alcohol. Namely, out of 60,666 drivers involved bicyclists and motorcyclists the variable suggests the use of
in crashes, about 10% were DUI, and about 8% of DUI driv- helmets. It should be underlined that there is no legal obli-
ers had no injuries (see Appendix B). In other words, 4 out gation for bicyclists to use a helmet in Serbia, whereas
of 5 of DUI drivers had no injuries. motorcyclists are obliged to use one.
Two types of analyses were conducted in this study. The variable driver experience implies the number of
Binary logistic regression established the correlation between years between obtaining a driver’s license and the driver’s
DSC and DUI. Logistic regression was applied to analyze involvement in a traffic crash (i.e., 2016).
the association between DUI and risk factors using 5 logistic Examining previous studies, it was noticed that the pur-
models: car drivers, bicyclists, motorcyclists, bus drivers, and pose of the journey was correlated with involvement in traf-
truck drivers. Each of these models represents DSC. Using fic crashes (Soltani et al. 2016). The variable journey purpose
the TOPSIS method, we obtained the score of the risk fac- was divided into only 2 categories, according to previous
tors for DUI and the potential for prevalence. For the details research by Soltani et al. (2016). The mandatory category
about the logistic regression and TOPSIS method, see implies going to and from work, going to and from school,
Appendix C (see online supplement). and driving as part of one’s job, whereas a nonmandatory
purpose indicates driving during free time/for fun, driving
for the sake of driving, and driving during holidays.
Variables
This study analyzes commercial drivers (bus drivers and
The need for the comprehensive analysis of DUI drivers of truck drivers) because DUI among this group differs signifi-
different vehicle categories in traffic crashes means that the cantly from that among other drivers. Commercial drivers
TRAFFIC INJURY PREVENTION 345
third most significant risk factor for DUI is the nonmanda- correlation with DUI cannot be interpreted as DUI predic-
tory purpose of the journey. tors but as predictors of involvement in non-DUI crashes.
The other factors are of lesser significance for DUI: The results of the study show that DUI predictors differ
Driver experience, driver age, the area of driving, and non- from the predictors of involvement in a crash. Considering
use of restraint systems. these factors in this light led to isolation of the partial con-
For non-alcohol-related crashes, the priority of risks is tribution of DUI.
different. Involvement in traffic crashes by non-DUI drivers It is important to emphasize the partial contribution of each
is related to the nonuse of seat belts, and other factors have predictor for further development of the presented model of
significantly lower scores (Appendix G). DUI driver detection, as well as for the development of new
DUI prediction models. The future development of DUI pre-
diction models can include all or some of the predictors
Discussion
studied in this article. Thus, it is significant to underline the
This study identified DUI risk factors for 5 driver categories. partial contribution of all factors examined in this article, in
The risk factors help us better understand the problem of order to make the development of future studies more efficient.
DUI, lead to efficient prevalence measures, and facilitate the This study has shown the highest correlation between
identification of DUI drivers in traffic. Random police testing drivers’ mistakes and DUI. For the whole population of
has a limited scope if the factors characterizing DUI are not drivers, the score of the factor driving mistakes is 0.856
comprehensively observed. Testing drivers in the period of (maximum ¼ 1.000), which represents the most significant
greater alcohol consumption (at night or on the weekend) is DUI predictor. For non-DUI drivers, driving mistakes have
not sufficient for the efficient reduction of DUI prevalence. It a smaller significance as a predictor (p 0.001). These
is necessary to recognize driver groups inclined to DUI. results indicate that DUI drivers make mistakes while driv-
The key challenge of the model development in this study ing more frequently than sober drivers.
is the prediction of DUI on the basis of available data. Male gender is the second most significant predictor of
Analysis of the model results raises the issue of application DUI for the whole population of drivers, which is in accord-
of the model. The criterion for includion in the model was ance with the results of other studies (MacLeod et al. 2015;
that all suspected drivers were under the influence of alcohol Mann et al. 2010). The stated result does not refer to motor-
would require the testing of a relatively small number of cyclists, whose chances of being under the influence of alco-
drivers and leave most DUI drivers unnoticed. On the other hol are approximately the same for male and female drivers.
hand, setting the criterion to a low probability of identifying Thus, male motorcyclists do not have a higher risk of DUI
DUI drivers would enable testing of a large number of driv- than female drivers.
ers. In this situation, a large number of tests would not The score of the factor nonmandatory journey is signifi-
identify DUI drivers due to the required low accuracy. On cantly lower than the previous 2 and is a risk factor with a
the basis of the analysis of the developed logistic regression slight influence on DUI. In comparison to non-DUI crashes,
models and the viability of the requested application, we a nonmandatory journey is significantly related to DUI
suggest that testing should be conducted for drivers who crashes, which gives significance to it. In other words, the
have a DUI probability estimated as over 50%. This would specific importance of the nonmandatory journey for DUI is
lower the risk of not including all drivers and most of the present, but its influence on the whole population of drivers
tests would be successful. In order to explain this, we used is limited. These results indicate that drivers consume alcohol
testing of the predictive performance of the model. A con- more frequently outside of working hours, so its correlation
trol sample was isolated from the initial data set. The con- with DUI is significant. On the other hand, it is often difficult
trol sample was isolated for car drivers, motorcyclists, and to differentiate between a mandatory and a nonmandatory
bicyclists. Applying the model to the control sample, we journey, so its effect on the whole population is limited.
obtained the result that our models showed a DUI predic- For commercial drivers, this factor is particularly import-
tion accuracy of 77% for car drivers, 71% for DUI motorcy- ant as a predictor, which can be a result of nonmandatory
clists, and 67% for DUI bicyclists. The prediction accuracy driving or the change in behavior when professional drivers
represents the result of the model for drivers under the are not at work. It is easier to recognize this type of driver
influence of alcohol (with probability above 50%) in relation in commercial vehicle drivers, so the results of this study
to actual DUI drivers (in the control sample). Thus, the are useful for identifying DUI drivers. A commercial vehicle
results were validated, which justifies development of the driver has an 80% higher odds of being under the influence
model. For details about the purpose of study, see Appendix of alcohol during a nonmandatory journey in comparison to
D (online supplement). when he or she is driving for business/work.
The TOPSIS DUI crash model showed the risk of DUI The correlation of other factors and DUI has been deter-
drivers’ involvment in crashes, and the TOPSIS model for mined, but their partial contribution to DUI is debatable.
other crashes showed the risk of non-DUI drivers’ involve- Studying non-alcohol-related crashes has shown that the
ment in crashes. In this manner, DUI factors were verified influence of other factors on the occurrence of traffic
and the potential of DUI prevalence in relation to the fac- crashes is higher than their partial contribution to DUI
tors was determined. The factors that are significantly crashes. These results can be explained by a greater influ-
related to involvement in traffic crashes and have a low ence of other factors on the occurrence of a crash than their
TRAFFIC INJURY PREVENTION 347
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