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A crackdown to enforce drink driving and drug driving regulations across Europe saw police conduct almost one million breath tests in a seven-day period, of which more than 17,000 were positive.
Motorists were also checked for drugs in the operation, organised by the European Traffic Police Network (TISPOL) at the beginning of June.
In total, 986,954 drivers were tested and there were 17,705 alcohol offences and 1,636 drug offences detected. Full results, broken down by country, are shown below. … (Source: Alcohol Reports, 08/1/11)fleetnews.co.uk, 07/27/11

Drivers on Czech roads will no longer be stripped of points for small speeding or a small quantity of alcohol in their blood as from Monday, August 1, when an amendment to the road law takes effect. …
The three-point penalty for alcohol up to 0.3 per thousands has been abolished. A higher quantity will be punished with seven points.
The zero toleration of alcohol, however, has been kept just as the ban on driving from six to 12 months for drivers caught driving under the influence of alcohol. Drink and drug driving may be fined with 2500 to 20,000 crowns. … (Source: Alcohol Reports, 08/1/11) praguemonitor.com, 08/1/11

The use of alcohol locks became mandatory as of Monday for all authorized vehicles taking children to school and daycare. An alcohol lock prevents a car from starting if a breathalyzer test shows the driver is over the legal limit.
The use of alcohol locks is from now on required in school and daycare transportation that has been organized by the municipality, the school or public facility, or is otherwise supported by the state or the municipality. … (Source: Alcohol Reports, 08/1/11)yle.fi, 08/1/11

Punishments for drunk driving vary widely by location, ranging from receiving a ticket to landing in jail for a first-time offense, according to USA Today.
When former NBA star and ESPN analyst Jalen Rose was sentenced this week in the Detroit suburb of West Bloomfield for drunk driving, he was ordered to serve 20 days in the county jail for his first offense. Had he appeared in nearby Pontiac, MI, he most likely would not have gone to jail, the newspaper reports.
States that require mandatory jail time for first offenders include Alaska, Tennessee and Georgia, while no jail time is required for first-time offenders in California, Connecticut and Indiana. Wisconsin gives first-time drunk drivers a ticket. (Source: Join Together, 07/29/11)

Welcome to Global Actions, your briefing on our efforts around the world as part of Global Actions on Harmful Drinking. (Source: Alcohol Reports, 07/07/11) Comment: Active social marketing by the alcohol industry.

Burger King, Sonic and Starbucks are among the fast food chains experimenting with selling alcohol, according to USA Today.
Two Sonic restaurants in South Florida will soon be selling beer and wine along with burgers, the newspaper reports. Burger King “Whopper Bars” that sell beer have opened in Miami, Kansas City and Los Angeles. Several Seattle Starbucks are now selling local wine and beer. These chains are adding alcohol to the menu in an attempt to boost sales during evening hours, the article notes. … (Source: Join Together, 07/5/11)

..from six European countries: the TEN-D by Night Project.
Only few studies with small experimental samples investigated the impact of psychoactive substances on driving performance. We conducted a multicenter international cross-sectional study to evaluate the correlation between alcohol use and driving-related skill as measured by brake reaction time (RT). …
This field study confirms previous experimental data on the negative impact of alcohol use on driving-related skill, supporting regulations and educational campaigns aimed at discouraging driving after consumption of psychoactive substances. (Source: biomedcentral.com, 07/1/11

In the United States, the blood-alcohol limit may be 0.08 percent, but no amount of alcohol seems to be safe for driving, according to a University of California, San Diego sociologist. A study led by David Phillips and published in the journal Addiction finds that blood-alcohol levels well below the U.S. legal limit are associated with incapacitating injury and death.
Phillips, with coauthor Kimberly M. Brewer, also of UC San Diego, examined official data from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS). This dataset includes information on all persons in the U.S. who were involved in fatal car accidents – 1,495,667 people in the years 1994 to 2008. The researchers used FARS because it is nationally comprehensive, covering all U.S. counties, all days of the week and all times of day, and, perhaps most important, reports on blood-alcohol content in increments of 0.01.
All the accidents included in FARS are, by definition, severe. But the authors looked at different levels of accident severity by examining the ratio of severe injuries to minor ones.
„Accidents are 36.6 percent more severe even when alcohol was barely detectable in a driver’s blood,“ Phillips said. Even with a BAC of 0.01, Phillips and Brewer write, there are 4.33 serious injuries for every non-serious injury versus 3.17 for sober drivers.
… We hope that our study might influence not only U.S. legislators, but also foreign legislators, in providing empirical evidence for lowering the legal BAC even more,“ Phillips said. „Doing so is very likely to reduce incapacitating injuries and to save lives.“ (Source: Alcohol Reports, 06/20/11) eurekalert.org, 06/20/11

Important informations on alcohol politics. Issued June 19, 2011 Content:
News From Eurocare Members – News From the EU – News From the WHO – News from across Europe – News From Around the World – Upcoming events – Questions from MEPs

People who own guns are twice as likely to binge drink and to drink and drive, compared with those who don’t own firearms, a new study finds.
Researchers at the University of California, Davis found that heavy alcohol use was most common among firearm owners who also engaged in behaviors such as carrying a firearm for protection against other people, and keeping a firearm at home that was both loaded and not locked away. The study included the results of a telephone survey of more than 15,000 people in eight states.
In the journal Injury Prevention, the researchers conclude that firearm ownership and specific firearm-related behaviors are associated with alcohol-related risk behaviors. … (Source: Join Together, 06/16/11)