The ESRA initiative: global approach to monitor driving under influence of alcohol and drugs across 48 countries

Introduction and aims. ESRA (E-Survey of Road users’ Attitudes) is a joint initiative of road safety institutes and research centres from all over the world. The aim is to collect and analyse comparable data on road safety performance, in particular road safety culture and behaviour of road users. The ESRA data are used as a basis for a large set of road safety indicators. These provide scientific evidence for policy making at national and international levels. The ESRA initiative is managed by the ESRA Steering Group, a consortium currently consisting of ten organisations across the world and led by Vias institute (Belgium). Already two editions of ESRA have taken place (ESRA2, ESRA2). In total 36 partners from 60 countries have already participated in this initiative. The objective of this presentation is to give an overview of the updated results on driving under influence, covering 48 countries (ESRA2). Focus is on self-reported driving under the influence of alcohol, drugs and medicines and different road user types. More details on related behaviour believes will be presented in an other presentation at this conference.

Method. ESRA2 data were collected through online panel surveys (2018-2020), using a representative sample of the national adult populations in each participating country. A jointly developed questionnaire was translated into 62 national language versions. The themes covered include self-reported behaviour, attitudes and opinions on unsafe behaviour in traffic, enforcement experiences and support for policy measures. The survey addresses different road safety topics and targets not only car drivers but also moped riders and motorcyclists, cyclists and pedestrians.

Results and Discussion. The results from ESRA2 (N= 45,114) show that the regional means for car drivers reporting drink-driving in the last month ranged from 11% (America) to 19% (Asia/Oceania), for drug-driving from 5% (Europe) to 20% (Asia/Oceania) and for driving after taking medication that may affect the driving ability from 15% (America) to 26% (Asia/Oceania). The national results differ substantially, ranging from 4-31% for alcohol, 6-30% for drugs, and 2-33% for medication. In contrast, the proportion of two-wheeled vehicle users reporting drink-driving differs little between regions: from 18% in Africa to 21% in America among moped and motorcyclists, and from 15% in America to 19% in Asia/Oceania among cyclists.

Conclusion. There are notable disparities in self-reported impaired car driving between the countries. The national differences are smaller for self-reported impaired riding of two-wheeled vehicles. ESRA aims at monitoring these differences over time. The next edition (ESRA3) will be launched in spring 2023. It is still possible to join ESRA3 (deadline 20th October, 2022). Contact us if this interests you: esra@vias.be