The New South Wales Driver Assessment Programme: a pilot programme for assessment of drink drivers

The NSW Driver Assessment Programme operated in Sydney from 1991-94 as a pilot scheme for the medical assessment of drink driver offenders. In this report we describe its functioning and characterize its 2267 participants. Offenders who had been convicted of driving with a blood alcohol concentration of 0.15 g/dL or more, or of refusing a breath test were referred to one of five Driver Assessment Clinics in Sydney. Medical assessment was mandatory before the driver's licence could be renewed. Of the 2267 offenders referred to the Programme, 922 (41%) attended an assessment during the operation of the scheme, with non-attenders having longer disqualification periods than attenders. Among attenders, 691 (75%) were judged fit to drive (i.e. "passed"). There was no significant variation in pass rate between centres. Of the 112 offenders who had laboratory results available from both first and second assessments, 68 (61%) showed a significant reduction in gamma glutamyltransferase (GGT) levels. We conclude that there was evidence of health benefit from the Programme in the fall in GGT levels in 61% repeat attenders. To assess the effects of the scheme on road safety would require prospective data collection on recidivism, road traffic accidents and, if possible, on self-reported drink-driving behaviour.