U.S. Department of Transportation

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., Washington, DC 20590

TRAFFIC TECH

Technology Transfer Series

Number 398 November 2010

Alcohol and Highway Safety: A Special Report 

On Race/Ethnicity and Impaired Driving

This report reviews the state of knowledge of alcoholimpaired driving among major racial and ethnic groups

living in the United States. Although it primarily focuses

on the relationship between impaired driving and race/

ethnicity, this review also covers patterns of alcohol use

and misuse among various racial and ethnic groups

within the United States. This report focuses on concepts

such as race, ethnicity, and acculturation; discusses how the

concepts are linked with health-related disparities; and

describes how they relate to impaired driving. The review

was performed by the Pacific Institute for Research and

Evaluation, Inc., (PIRE), of Calverton, Maryland.

Findings

There is evidence suggesting that race and ethnicity play

importantroles in shaping the prevalence of health-related

disparities such as those associated with impaired driving.

Yet it is important to note that there are large variations in

culture, norms, and behaviors within each racial/ethnic

group that are larger than the differences between groups.

Defining Terms. In 1997, the Office of Management and

Budget (OMB) differentiated between the concept of race

(e.g., Asian, Black, Native American, White) and ethnicity (e.g., Hispanic and non-Hispanic). In this report the

authors followed the basic 1997 OMB guidelines with the

understanding that (a) any group other than Hispanics

or Latinos are non-Hispanic; and that (b) labels such as

African-American and Black, Hispanic and Latino, and

Native American and American Indian could be used

interchangeably. Aside from agreeing on proper group

naming and ethnic membership definitions, traffic safety

researchers concerned with racial/ethnic issues must face

other analytical considerations. Researchers must isolate

culturally related behavior from other confounding factors (such as socioeconomic status (SES), gender, or age).

Health-Related Disparities. Members of racial and ethnic

minorities in the United States, particularlyAfrican-Americans, Hispanic Americans, and Native Americans experience poorer physical health than their White and Asian

counterparts. While it generally is agreed that inequalities

in socioeconomic status explain many health disparities

in the United States, SES alone cannot explain some of the

observed health disparities.

Alcohol Consumption. There is a strong consensus that alcohol abstention is high amongAsian adults and low among

Whites. Most reports also agree that abstention rates are

relatively higher among African-American and Hispanic

adults, but lower among Native Americans. Among those

who drink, the rates of binge drinking and heavy drinking tend to be high among Native Americans, followed

closely by Hispanics and Whites, with Asians showing

the lowestrates of binge drinking and heavy drinking. For

African-Americans, the literature shows some conflicting

results. Some reports indicate African-American drinkers

have relatively low rates of binge/heavy drinking; others report rates comparable to (or higher than) those for

Whites or Hispanics. These latter studies postulate the

notion of “two worlds” of alcohol use for both AfricanAmericans and Hispanics, characterized by a large majority of relative light drinkers and a much smaller group

of heavy/binge drinkers. Besides these generalizations,

there is a large variation in patterns of drinking within

each of these groups. There are variations by country of

origin, by gender, by age, by acculturation level, and even

by genetic factors.

Impaired Driving. Information on the role of race/ethnicity

on impaired driving shows Native American and White

drivers being consistently among those most at risk for

alcohol impaired driving, whileAsians are among the least

vulnerable. For Hispanic and African-American drivers,

the picture is less clear. Use of certain data and measures

yield different levels of crash involvement. Based on vehicle miles traveled (VMT), African-American and Hispanic

drivers appear to have higher crash involvement than

White drivers. The Crash Incidence Ratio (CIR) measure

suggests that the risk for Hispanic drivers is substantially

higher than it is for African-American and White drivers.

Figures 1 and 2 show the different outcomes.
TRAFFIC TECH is a publication to disseminate information about

traffic safety programs, including evaluations, innovative programs, and new publications. Feel free to copy it as you wish. If you

would like to receive a copy, contact Angela H. Eichelberger, Ph.D.,

Editor, fax 202-366-7394, e-mail: angela.eichelberger@dot.gov.

1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., NTI-132

Washington, DC 20590

This broad picture also is affected by several moderators.

Age, gender, and marital status seem to play a similar role

across racial/ethnic groups, with impaired driving being

more prevalent among young, single males. However,

gender-related gaps in impaired driving seem to be larger

among Hispanics than among Whites. Differences in the

rates of impaired driving may be related to differences in

the way members of different racial/ethnic groups perceive the associated risk, with Hispanics less likely to

consider DUI a safety problem and/or believe they will

be arrested or punished. Fatalism (the perception by the

driver that the driver has no control over the likelihood of

a crash), which has been reported higher among Hispanics and African-Americans than among other groups, has

also been suggested as a contributor to the DUI problem.

Machismo has been suggested as a reason for the much

greater prevalence of impaired driving among Hispanic

males (than among Hispanic females). However, there is

no clear evidence to support this hypothesis.

Vulnerability to impaired driving has been shown to

vary geographically, being higher around alcohol outlets, with the density of these outlets increasing in lowincome neighborhoods. Similarly, the Mexican/U.S.

border is a region in which Hispanics returning from

Mexican bars are at a high risk of impaired driving. Rural

settings also are a contributing factor to DUI. This factor

might be particularly relevant to Native Americans living on “dry” reservations.

Summary/Discussion

Peer-reviewed studies on whether policy changes differentially affect impaired driving in minority populations

are rare. However, there is consensus about the need to

develop culturally sensitive messages, though there is no

clear understanding of the content of such messages. The

few suggestions provided by the literature include use

of peers and friends to disseminate positive information

among Hispanic and White teenagers (but not as much

among Asians); and the need to incorporate law enforcement officers into prevention programs, although this

may not be appropriate for all groups. In addition, the

literature suggests the need to find adequate channels of

communication for the target audience.

How to Order

For a copy of Alcohol and Highway Safety 2006: A Special 

Report on Race/Ethnicity and Impaired Driving prepared by

the Pacific Institute for Research Evaluation, write to the

Office of Behavioral Safety Research, NHTSA, NTI-130,

1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., Washington, DC 20590, or

send a fax to 202-366-7394, or download from www.nhtsa.

gov. Dr. Dereece Smither was the project manager.

Figure 1: VMT-based measure (fatalities per VMT) of 

drinking drivers killed in crashes across ethnic groups

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

20

White African

American

Asian Hispanic

Deaths per billion VMT

16–20

Age group

21–29 30–39 40–49 50–69 70+

Figure 2: CIR of male drivers by age and racial/ethnic 

group

0.0

0.3

0.6

0.9

1.2

1.5

1.8

2.1

White African

American

Asian Hispanic

CIR Scale

16–20

Age group

21–29 30–39 40–49 50–69 70+