The focus of this study is on driver impairment caused by alcohol, illegal and medicinal drugs and fatigue, as these impairment factors were thought to be most relevant with regard to the problem of improving road safety in developing countries. In order to understand more about the role of impaired driving in road accidents the Global Road Safety Partnership (GRSP), with the financial support of thev UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) recently awarded the Transport Research Laboratory (TRL) a research grant to conduct a small ‘scoping study’ on impaired driving – with particular reference to developing countries.