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Ronald Shlensky, MD, JD

JAMA. 1976;235(18):1993-1994.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

THERE are 130 million cars on the road in the United States, and each year in the early 1970s, there were 48,000 fatal accidents, in which 55,000 people were killed.¹ Two million more people were disabled annually, and an inestimable amount of property was destroyed or damaged. We know that some of these deaths are intended suicides, and it is likely that many more are unconsciously motivated self-destructive acts. Undoubtedly, many accidents have some less definitive relationship to the emotional state of the drivers involved.

The states have a constitutionally ordained police power to regulate the public safety and health. Everyone has a right to be as free as possible from the threat of sudden death or mutilation, and the states have the responsibility to restrict the licensing of automobile drivers to this end.

On the other hand, driving privileges profoundly affect the quality of life in our society. . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

Author Affiliations
From the Department of Psychiatry, North-western University Medical School, and North-western Memorial Hospital, Chicago; and the Drivers License Advisory Board of the Secretary of State, Department of Motor Vehicles, Drivers License Division, Springfield, Ill.

Footnotes
Reprint requests to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, 251 E Chicago Ave, Chicago, IL 60611.

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