An upward trend in drug driving has been observed in several countries around the world. Research suggests that younger drivers are more likely to engage in drug driving compared to older drivers. There is also evidence to suggest young drivers differ from older drivers in their capacity for self-regulation. Despite this, research has yet to explore the impact of age on the self-regulatory processes with regard to decisions to drug drive among drug users. A total of 507 Queensland drivers (72.8% female), who reported ever taking an illegal drug, were involved in the research. Participants completed an online questionnaire, which collected demographic and drug consumption information, as well as items assessing the self-regulatory processes influencing drug driving, and drug driving behaviour. Regardless of age, participants reported a tendency towards internalised regulation. However, results suggest that young drivers (aged 18–24 years) feel greater belongingness to people who promote safe transport decisions after taking drugs, compared to drivers aged 25 years and over. Interaction effects revealed that for young drug takers, feeling greater relatedness, along with perceiving competence and importance in planning alternative transport after taking drugs, can be protective against drug driving behaviours. Significant predictors of drug driving were lower relatedness, greater perceived pressure to drug drive, lower effort/importance to plan safe alternatives after taking drugs, being of older age, and greater drug abuse. Counterintuitively, perceiving more options (choice) to take alternative transport after taking drugs also predicted the offending behaviour. The results of this study suggest that enhancing drivers’ competency to make (and value) safe driving decisions is a critical step for road safety.

在世界上的一些国家，毒品驾驶现象呈上升趋势。研究表明，与年长的驾驶员相比，年纪较小的驾驶员更有可能从事毒品驾驶。也有证据表明，年轻驾驶员的自我调节能力与老年驾驶员有所不同。尽管如此，有关吸毒者吸毒决定的研究尚未探索年龄对自我调节过程的影响。据报道，昆士兰州共有507名驾驶员（其中女性占72.8％）曾服用过违禁药物。参与者完成了一个在线调查表，该调查表收集了人口统计和药物消费信息，以及评估影响药物驾驶和药物驾驶行为的自我调节过程的项目。不论年纪，参与者报告了内部监管的趋势。但是，结果表明，与年龄在25岁及以上的驾驶员相比，年轻的驾驶员（18至24岁）在服药后对促进安全运输决策的人们的归属感更高。相互作用的影响表明，对于年轻的吸毒者而言，在吸毒后感觉到更大的亲密关系，以及在规划替代性运输方式方面的能力和重要性，可以保护他们免受毒品驾驶行为的侵害。药物驾驶的重要预测因素是相关性较低，对药物驾驶的感知压力更大，吸毒后计划安全替代品的努力/重要性降低，年龄较大以及药物滥用更大。违反直觉，在吸毒后，有更多的选择（选择）来选择其他运输方式，这也预示了违法行为。这项研究的结果表明，增强驾驶员的能力以制定（和评估）安全的驾驶决策是道路安全的关键步骤。