Driving while intoxicated is a pressing problem. Attempts to deal with this problem through prevention programs in which social drinkers learn to recognize levels of alcohol consumption beyond which...

Driving while intoxicated is a pressing problem. Attempts to deal with this problem through prevention programs in which social drinkers learn to recognize levels of alcohol consumption beyond which they should not drive require that people be able to accurately judge their own alcohol consumption immediately prior to deciding whether or not to drive. To see if drinkers could actually judge their alcohol consumption, Meier and coworkers* administered a Breathalyzer test to measure blood alcohol and administered a short questionnaire to record recall of alcohol consumption, which was then used to estimate blood alcohol level based on the respondent’s age, gender, and reported consumption (the data are in Table D-17, Appendix D). How well does drinker recall of alcohol consumption reflect actual blood alcohol level as determined by the Breathalyzer?

Table D-17