## Eradication of drunken driving (Measures against habitual drunk drivers)

Recently the number of traffic accidents caused by drunk driving has declined as a result of growing public awareness that “drunk driving is unacceptable” and consolidation of two sets of penal codes by revising the Road Traffic Act, establishment of a new penal code related to providing alcoholic beverages to the driver and being in the car with a drunk driver etc. Compared to the ratio of fatalities due to drunken driving 10 earlier, it has decreased to almost a third and the percentage of drunken-driving-related fatalities in the total number of fatalities decreased by half.

In the year 2007, there were more than 74,000 cases of drunk driving. However, if we consider the potential drunk drivers who were not arrested according to a survey (The data of survey, hereafter, referred to as "Joint survey") conducted jointly by the Kanagawa Prefectural Police Headquarters and the National Hospital Organization Kurihama Alcoholism Center, it shows that out of the people with a drunk driving experience, about half were never arrested. This shows that the eradication of drunk driving has not been completely successful.

In order to understand problems related to repeated habitual drunk driving, the issues of regular drinkers, heavy drinkers and alcohol dependant people who cannot control their own drinking behavior, are pointed out. For the eradication of drunk driving, it is important to reduce the number of regular drinkers and heavy drinkers.

Under such awareness of the problem, in April 2007, the committee for measures against habitual drunk drivers was established in the Transport Measures Headquarters and the investigation of measures against habitual drunk drivers was promoted by the concerned ministries and agencies. In June, “Measures against Present Habitual Drunk Drivers” were decided with respect to the budgetary request for fiscal year 2008. In December, health enhancement of citizens was planned on the basis of the decision of the budgetary plan designed by the government for the fiscal year 2008. Moreover, "Promotion of Measures against Habitual Drunk Drivers" was decided, wherein various measures for eradication of drunk driving were incorporated.

Here, an introduction is given about the implementation status of measures against habitual drunk drivers, and the summary of the above-mentioned joint survey.

### 1. Summary of the joint survey result (Alcohol Syndrome Screening Test for persons who have been penalized and who are attending the course)

In the Questionnaire Survey for those who lost their license as a result of penalty and are taking a seminar for such ones, which was jointly conducted by the Kanagawa Prefectural Police Headquarters and the National Hospital Organization Kurihama Alcoholism Center, 76.8% people had history of drunk driving while 56.1% people did not have arrest history related to drinking. The result of the Alcohol Syndrome Screening Test (AUDIT) conducted for persons with a history of drunk driving indicated that there were 41.4% persons who were suspected of being alcohol dependant. The percentage of persons with dangerous drinking was 32.6% and thus, about 70% of them had alcohol-related behavioral problems. Out of the persons who took the driving aptitude test, about 10.5% were suspected of being alcohol dependant. In case of ordinary drivers, there were people who are suspected of being addicted to alcohol. However, the persons with a history of drunk driving had the maximum number of such ones.

People who have experience of drunk driving

Among people who have a background of drunk driving, about 75% people have alcohol-related behavioral problems

### 2. Situation of implementation of measures against habitual drunk drivers

Note: Created on the basis of the survey conducted jointly by Kanagawa Prefectural Police Headquarters and National Hospital Organization Kurihama Alcoholism Center

## (1) Spreading information on the effect of alcohol and specialized counseling institutions

With cooperation from the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare and the Cabinet Office created and distributed to related organizations a list of specialized counseling organizations by prefectures, which contains names of specialized counseling organizations such as Mental Health and Welfare Centers where counseling is conducted for alcohol dependence syndromes, organizations giving special treatment for alcohol dependence syndromes, and self-help groups such as Danshu-kai etc.

Information on the effects of alcohol on the body is given on the home page of Cabinet Office. Moreover, in April 2008, active publicity implementation for reasonable alcoholic intake was requested to a group of 8 alcohol manufacturers such as the Japan Sake Brewers Association. A request was made to the General Insurance Association of Japan to inform people that injury or car damage due to drunk driving is not covered by insurance.

In Japan, from fiscal year 2008, the Japan Specified Non-profit Corporation to Prevent Alcohol and Drug Problems (ASK), with the help from the General Insurance Association of Japan, worked mainly on the training for “drunk drinking prevention instructors” who spread the basic knowledge of alcohol and the methods to restrain drinking. Practical use of the training is expected in enterprises and corporations. <>