Relationships between drinking problems and drinking locations among convicted drinking drivers

This study examines relationships between drinking problems and the frequen cy of drinking in eight types of places within a sample of convicted drinki ng drivers. Drinking problems were measured by two instruments, the Mortime r-Filkins Questionnaire (MFQ) and the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) Core Questionnaire. Data were collected from convicted drinkin g drivers who were ordered by the court to attend the Mississippi Alcohol S afety Education Program (MASEP). Both the MFQ and the AUDIT were found to b e more strongly related to the frequency of drinking in moving automobiles than to the frequency of drinking in any other type of place. This suggests that drinking drivers with severe drinking problems are more likely to dri nk in moving automobiles than are those with less severe problems. The stro ng linkage between severe alcohol problems and drinking in automobiles has important implications with respect to highway safety.