The Drinking Driver

Abstract

A series is described of 392 persons who over the last six years had been apprehended by the police in Manchester on suspicion of being intoxicated while in charge of a motor vehicle. Certain clinical signs appearing together were held to be diagnostically significant: slurred speech; full bounding pulse; impaired memory; poor co-ordination; widely dilated pupils with little or no reaction to strong light; and fine lateral nystagmus. Of the 323 drivers who were certified as intoxicated 97% of those who appeared before magistrates' courts were convicted. The percentage of convictions fell to 49 % when drivers appeared before Crown courts with ajury. Most of the drivers (71%) were between 20 and 40. Teenage offenders were rare (1%). Thirty-two per cent. of the drivers belonged to the professional classes, and all were male. None belonged to the Jewish race. The advent of new licensing laws and the growth of gambling clubs meant that drivers were apprehended and examined at a later hour of the night than hitherto. There was a marked rise in arrests before Christmas. It was thought that no chemical test would be of value until legislation was enacted that laid down a blood-alcohol content above which conviction would be mandatory. © 1964, British Medical Journal Publishing Group. All rights reserved.