Drug and Driving: A Compendium of Research Studies

Annotated Sources (cont'd)

Germany

41. Krüger, H., Schulz, E., and Magerl, H. (1995)

The German roadside survey 1992-1994. Saliva analysis from an unselected driver population: Licit and illicit drugs. In TS-’95. Proceedings of the 13th international Conference on Alcohol, Drugs and Traffic Safety. August13 – August 18, 1995. Adelaide, Australia. Adelaide: NHMRC, road Accident Unit, University of Adelaide.

Overview

Roadside survey in Germany

Type of study, population(s) and proportion tested

Drivers stopped at checkpoints by police

N=12,213 - agreed to participate

Time period for collection was 1992 – 1994

Only data from 1992 was analyzed (n=2,234)

Drugs examined (threshold values for detection)
Method of testing and medium used

Saliva samples

Other dependent variables

Variables for weighting the tested sample, to better represent a random sample of drivers (n=30,000) from the Continuous Survey on Mobility, included age, gender, time of day, day of week, and prevalence of alcohol

Findings (including statistical methods)

Following weighting, 3% of all trips undertaken by drivers positive for benzodiazepines and 1% by those positive for illicit drugs, mainly cannabis

Approximately 1/3 of those who tested positive for an illicit drug also tested positive for alcohol