The increasing popularity of high speed automobiles during the past decade has raised the problem of alcoholism above the level of morality and made it an issue of life and death. In 1936 motor vehicle deaths totaled 37,800. There were also 1,300,000 nonfatal traffic injuries, about 100,000 of them representing disabilities of a permanent character. In addition there were nearly 6,000,000 "property damage only" accidents. The total economic loss due to motor vehicle accidents for 1936 is conservatively estimated as $1,640,000,000. All summaries now available on fatal accidents show, on the average, that 7 per cent of the drivers and 11 per cent of the pedestrians "had been drinking" or were intoxicated.1In spite of the importance of establishing responsibility in accidents involving individuals who have been imbibing alcoholic beverages, the physician and the law still quibble about what constitutes alcoholic intoxication and what criteria are acceptable for establishing