These findings imply that other forms of hazardous use (e.g., accidental injury not related to driving) should have increased substantially in order to account for the overall increases in both lifetime and past-12 month rates of hazardous use. Another explanation for decreased drinking and driving in the presence of increased rates of hazardous use is that overlap of dependence with hazardous use (beyond the general association between overall abuse and dependence diagnoses described above) decreased significantly (and thus, under DSM-IV criteria, would allow more individuals to diagnose for abuse through hazardous use) in NESARC compared to NLAES.
