Alcohol Consumption, Drunken Driving, and Traffic Accidents in Iceland 1966–1993

Abstract

The aim of the article is to compare the development of the aggregate consumption of alcohol, drunken driving and traffic accidents in Iceland over a period of 28 years and to explore how changes in these factors are related. The data on traffic include the number of vehicles, the number of traffic accidents, the number of those arrested by the police suspected of drunken driving, and the proportion of alcohol-related accidents in traffic. Reliable figures for the number of traffic accidents in the country as a whole have been available since 1966; for drunken driving, since 1968 and for alcohol related traffic accidents, since 1976. The results show no significant correlation between traffic accidents and the number of vehicles but show a highly significant correlation between traffic accidents and the consumption of spirits. A significant correlation was also found between traffic accidents and the rate of drunken driving and between traffic accidents and the proportion of alcohol-related traffic accidents. In the latter part of the period a relative decrease in traffic accidents, drunken driving and alcohol related accidents was observed. The results are discussed with reference to other factors that might possibly affect this development, e.g., improvements in traffic safety and cars during the period, economic recessions, and information campaigns against drunken driving.