Background
Motor vehicle accidents cause significant ailments
and death in our communities and driving under the
influence of various psychoactive substances including
ethanol (alcohol) have been associated with the incidences
of vehicular crashes. In this paper a case study is presented
in which the prevalence of alcohol-impaired driving is
estimated for the general population of long distance
commercial drivers in the cities of Aba and Umuahia.
Methods
Simple random sampling was used to identify drivers
as such classified for this research. Random breath alcohol
concentration tests were performed in the month of April,
2018 on 160 drivers.. The Chi – square statistics was used
to test the hypotheses for alcohol consumption at 0.05 level
of significance while the student T-test was deployed for
prevalence of impairment.
Results
In Aba, 35% had a detectable quantity of alcohol in
their breath while 8.75 percent of the drivers tested
positive to alcohol but below the BAC limit set for the
country, sample from 7.5% of drivers where very close to
the legal drink drive limit and could be borderline. Sample
from 18.75% of the drivers were at or above the legal
drink limit at which drivers are recommended not to
drive. In Umuahia, 35% had a detectable quantity of
alcohol in their breath. The results showed that 10 percent
of the drivers tested positive to alcohol but below the BAC
limit set for the country while sample from 10% of drivers
where very close to the drive limit and could be
borderline. Samples from 15% of the drivers were at or
above the legal drink limit at which drivers are
recommended not to drive. There is a statistically
significant relationship between age of driver and rate of
alcohol consumption. None of the drivers interviewed in
both cities know the Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC)
limit of the country.
Conclusion
The research concluded that alcohol consumption
was rampant among long distance commercial drivers in
the cities of Aba and Umuahia in Abia State, Nigeria while
alcohol impaired drivers are not prevalent in both cities.
Keywords : Bac; Bra; DUI; Alcohol Intoxication; Alcohol Impairment.