Designated Drivers Often Drink Themselves, Study Finds

While most abstained, 35 percent had alcohol in bloodstreams and some were legally drunk

By Randy Dotinga

HealthDay Reporter

MONDAY, June 10 (HealthDay News) -- Having a designated driver sounds like a great idea, but a new study found that more than one-third of those who were supposed to drive their pals home safely had been boozing it up themselves.

And some were legally drunk.

The study has limitations that prevent it from being definitive, and researchers aren't sure how much danger lurks in designated drivers who have a drink or two. But the message is clear, said study author Adam Barry, an assistant professor at the University of Florida: Some designated drivers are drinking when they should be abstaining.

"While more of the designated drivers didn't drink than did drink, which is a good thing, you have people being selected because they're the least drunk, or the least intoxicated or they've driven drunk before," Barry said. "The only real safe option is to completely abstain."

The researchers, all from the University of Florida, Gainesville, went to an unidentified college-area town and talked to almost 1,100 bar patrons, mostly white, male and college-aged. They then gave blood alcohol tests to 165 people who said they were serving as designated drivers -- those who are expected to take care of driving their friends home so the others can drink.

Sixty-five percent, or 108, of the designated drivers had zero alcohol in their systems. Another 17 percent, or 28, had a blood alcohol level of between 0.02 and 0.049 (grams of alcohol per 210 liters of breath). And 18 percent, or 29, were at 0.05 or more; the legal limit is 0.08 or higher.

It's not clear how many of the designated drivers actually drove after taking the blood alcohol tests, nor do researchers know if they were able to sober up before driving.

The researchers also didn't examine how many of the designated drivers were legally drunk at 0.08 or higher. Barry said the researchers chose to look at those above 0.05 because experts think drivers are significantly impaired at that level; some public health advocates want to lower the legal level for driving to 0.05.

People can be arrested for driving while intoxicated at levels under 0.08, but they must show signs that they're impaired.

Why does it matter if designated drivers have had only a bit of alcohol? Barry said they may have more trouble handling the task of driving with boozed-up passengers: "You've got roughhousing, unruly passengers, music -- so many competing factors on top of your ability to process information and brake and steer effectively," he explained.

Is it realistic to expect designated drivers to not drink at all? James Lange, an alcohol researcher and coordinator of Alcohol and Other Drug Initiatives at San Diego State University, said it is.

Because people's alcohol tolerance varies, "it would be difficult for me to make a blanket statement that a certain amount is OK," Lange said. "The easiest recommendation is that they don't drink at all."

E. Scott Geller, a professor who studies alcohol use at Virginia Tech, suggested that "we should not trust a designated driver to be sober." Instead, he said, there should be ways to guarantee that they don't drink, such as providing rewards at a party or bar if blood alcohol tests shows they've abstained.

The study appears in the July issue of the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs.

View the original article here

Weekend 'Catch-Up' Sleep May Cut Young Drivers' Crash Risk

Study found 21 percent higher chance of accident among those who slept less than 6 hours a night

By Steven Reinberg

HealthDay Reporter

MONDAY, May 20 (HealthDay News) -- Young drivers who get behind the wheel while drowsy run a higher risk of getting into car crashes, but Australian researchers have found that not catching up on missed sleep on weekends puts them in even greater danger of having an accident at night.

"This is another challenge to adolescents that comes with lack of sleep," said Dr. Flaura Winston, co-scientific director and founder of the Center for Injury Research and Prevention at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

"You have to be ready, body and mind, to drive," she said. "If you are exhausted, you are neither ready body nor mind."

In tackling this challenge, both parents and the community have roles to play, said Winston, who was not involved with the study.

"This is a safety concern," she said. "If the teen doesn't get enough sleep, then they are at increased risk for crashes, so parents need to step in."

Parents should see their role as one that helps their teenager stay safe without being controlling, Winston explained. They can encourage their children to get more sleep, and provide rides at night to ensure that their teens are not driving exhausted.

One of the more positive things parents can do is let their teen sleep late on the weekends, Winston noted. "Teens need their catch-up sleep," she said. "They do need to sleep late on the weekends."

There are also social factors that limit teens' sleep. For example, many high schools start classes very early, cutting into students' sleep time, Winston pointed out. "Studies have shown that later school start times are better for adolescents," she said.

Not only do they start school early, but "they have long days. They have sports, after-school activities and studying, so there are things that are way beyond the family that put these teens at risk when it comes to driving," Winston said.

The report was published online May 20 in the journal JAMA Pediatrics.

To look at what role sleep plays in teen car crashes, a team led by Alexandra Martiniuk, an associate professor at the George Institute for Global Health in Sydney, collected data on more than 20,000 drivers aged 17 to 24.

The investigators found that those who said they slept six or fewer hours a night had a 21 percent higher risk of having a car accident than those who got more than six hours of sleep.

Moreover, those who got less sleep on the weekends had a 55 percent increased chance of having a single-car accident, where the car drifts or swerves off the road, they added.

Most accidents (86 percent) happened between 8 p.m. and 6 a.m., the researchers noted.

"Sleeping six hours a night is enough to put young drivers at significant risk of having a car crash. With work, study and social commitments, especially on weekends, it is easy to miss out on the extra hours of sleep we need," Martiniuk said in a statement.

More than 3,000 people die every day in car crashes around the world -- that's more than 1.3 million car-related deaths a year, with between 20 million and 50 million people injured or disabled, the researchers noted.

In the United States alone, it is estimated that 20 percent of all car crashes are the result of drowsy driving, which adds up to 1 million crashes, 50,000 injuries and 8,000 deaths a year, the study found.

View the original article here