Objective: To describe and analyze a measure that has been introduced in Sweden with the objective of quickly offering treatment for the alcohol or drug problems suspected drink or drug drivers may have. The goal of the measure is that every suspected drink or drug driver shall, as soon as apprehended by the police, be offered contact with the social services or the dependency care and treatment service, which can offer a consultation and, if needed, suitable treatment.
Method: Interviews and questionnaire surveys, as well as forms that describe the treatment received by each individual case.
The present study used Swedish archival data on police-reported accidents and license statistics and Swedish questionnaire data on car use in order to test an underinvolvement hypothesis of older drivers' (65-84 years) accident involvement, postulating that the increase in older drivers' accident involvement is smaller than the increase in older drivers' presence in traffic. The results gave support to the hypothesis. Compared to the accident involvement trend in the general driver population, there was a relative decrease over time in older drivers' accident involvement per driver license and per active driver from 1983 to 1999.
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