Drinking-driving behavior of young men in relation to accidents.

To determine the role of drinking in the accidents of young men, data were examined from a representative survey sample of 1670 young men in south-eastern Michigan and from official accident statistics of 4 states. By age 20 over half the sampled men drank at least once weekly and drove at least once monthly after drinking. Alcohol was involved in 3-8% of all crashes of 20-year-olds. The highest accident rates without alcohol involvement occurred at ages 18-20, whereas the most alcohol-involved accidents occured at ages 22-24.