Blood Alcohol Concentrations in Apprehended Drivers of Cars and Boats Suspected to Be Impaired by the Police

Abstract

Alcohol impairment of car drivers is known to be considered the most important contributing cause of car crash injuries. Driving a boat may demand the same degree of performance skills as driving a car. The median BAC in apprehended boat drivers was considerably high in the present study. The median BAC was also high in car drivers despite strict legislation. The population of drivers of cars in our study, however, is from previous studies known to contain a large proportion of heavy drinkers. Less is known about the drinking habits in boat drivers, and caution is needed in generalizing from our results. However, our results indicate the possible need for stricter legislation and more frequent police control that will hopefully prevent serious accidents caused by ethanol drinking at sea.