• Journal of Korean Society of Transportation
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.107-118
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• 2012

This paper investigated habitual drunk drivers' characteristics by grouping them by the number of DUI records, and customized countermeasures for each group. Theoretical models to accommodate underlying causes for drunk driving, which adopted the form of a path analysis, were developed based on psychological variables. According to the psychological paths to drunk driving, each group showed different defense mechanisms and different senses of guilty, shame and embarrassment. This provided a rationale for differentiating countermeasures for each group. Habitual drunk drivers were found to have a strong propensity of self-justification due to their defense mechanism. Thereby, it would be useless to simply discourage them from drinking and driving. Rather, more active measures such as locking devices, invalidation of driver license, and group counseling should be taken to stop habitual drunk driving. Furthermore, since habitual drunk drivers showed high projection propensity, it is necessary to force them to participate in a sensibility training program, which might entail the amendment of related laws or regulations.