Let’s be careful out there

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Here’s a reason to stay home on Saturday night:

The latest national survey by federal safety officials of alcohol and drug use on the nation’s roadways found that 16% of drivers tested on weekend nights turned up positive for drugs, including marijuana, cocaine and prescription sedatives.

It was the first time the survey had looked at drug usage, so it’s hard to know whether that number is going up or down. But Gil Kerlikowske, head of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, called the results “troubling.”

On a more positive note, the survey — conducted in 2007 by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration — found that only 2.2% of drivers tested had blood-alcohol content above the legal limit of 0.08%. That was half the number of the previous survey, in 1996, and down from 7.5% in 1973, the first year the survey was conducted.

The number of alcohol-related traffic deaths has declined in tandem with alcohol-impaired driving, NHTSA said.

Among the survey’s other findings:

The percentage of male drivers with illegal blood-alcohol levels was 42% higher than the percentage of alcohol-impaired female drivers.

Drivers were more likely to be drunk during late nighttime hours (1 a.m. to 3 a.m.) than during daytime or early evening hours.

Motorcycle riders were more than twice as likely as passenger vehicle drivers to be drunk (5.6% compared with 2.3%). Pickup truck drivers were the next most likely to have illegal blood-alcohol levels (3.3%).

The survey was conducted at 300 locations around the country and involved a rather intriguing methodology. Drivers were randomly “directed” into the survey site by police officers, although the alcohol and drug tests were actually administered by non-law-enforcement personnel.

Participation is voluntary and anonymous, and NHTSA says it used trained interviewers to determine whether the drivers who refused to participate were actually impaired. Drivers who were found to be under the influence, either through voluntary testing or observation, weren’t arrested. Instead, they were offered a number of options to keep them off the road until they sobered up, including an overnight stay in a hotel. Impaired drivers were not allowed to drive away from the survey site, according to NHTSA.

-- Martin Zimmerman