PERSONALITY VERSUS INTOXICATION AS CRITICAL FACTOR IN ACCIDENTS CAUSED BY ALCOHOLIC DRIVERS

Abstract

Recent studies implicate the alcoholic rather than the casual drinker as a major contributor to the traffic accident problem. The alcoholic''s more frequent and greater degree of intoxication, however, does not sufficiently explain his more frequent involvement in automobile accidents. The alcoholic''s drinking often releases behavior motivated by underlying personality traits that result in serious accidents or traffic law violations. These traits have been variously described as chronic hostility, depression, self-destructiveness, and feelings of invulnerability and omnipotence. Three case histories are presented which indicate that the alcoholic''s personality may play as important a role in his automobile accident involvement as his intoxication. The case histories emphasize the futility of present judicial methods of dealing with alcoholic traffic offenders as manifested by failure to prevent repeated accidents and violations involving the same offenders. The courts either send the alcoholic offender back into the community with admonitions that his illness makes it impossible for him to heed [long dash]or by punitive action which fails to rehabilitate him. In either case the community is again exposed to his potential motor vehicle depredations. Treatment rather than futile punishment may provide an answer to what may well be a serious and widespread public health problem.