Taboo of alcohol and road safety policies in Algeria

Abstract

The objective of this work is to show the real dimension of drunk driving in Algeria through the statistics of road accidents, the evolution of the legislative framework concerning driving while drunk and road preventive actions undertaken to fight against this risk factor. We first analyzed the statistics published by the National Centre for Road Safety (NCRS) in recent years to present the part of driving while drunk in the national data of road accidents. Then we retraced the evolution of the legislative framework for road safety particularly the laws governing driving while drunk. Finally, an overview of how the mass media process and disseminate information related to road traffic accidents, especially one devoted to driving while drunk and that has been achieved to show the part of the means of information in road safety. The results show that driving under the influence of alcohol is behind a significant number of road traffic accidents in Algeria. The results also show that the legislative framework concerning this risk is limited to the fixing of rates of blood alcohol concentrations authorized for driving. These same results reveal the absence of sensitization actions, information and research for this risk factor particular by the mass media. Driving while drunk is a real problem for road safety in Algeria which preserves an unclear representation in the society and constitutes a taboo subject which slows down road safety policies.

Key words: Alcohol, driving while drunk, driving under influence of alcohol, road safety, Algeria