Personality characteristics and drinking patterns of high-risk drivers never apprehended for driving while intoxicated.

In a study of 124 high-risk drivers, almost 50% of the drives had a severe problem with alcohol and were driving without a valid license. The findings indicate that high-risk drivers, not identified as drinking drivers, are as potentially a threat to public health as those individuals arrested for driving while intoxicated. It is recommended that intervention programs for high-risk drivers cannot ignore alcohol education and, where appropriate, alcohol treatment as an identifiable programmatic strategy.