Deaths due to road accidents during weekends have become a worrying phenomenon in Italy. With the aim of highlighting the role of psychotropic substances (alcohol, drugs of abuse, psychoactive drugs) in causing road accidents, a survey based on clinical and chemico toxicological analyses was carried out on car drivers in the Veneto region during the weekends of the three-month period June-August 1994. Rapid clinical screening was carried out on 1237 drivers. 265 of these, suspected to be under the influence of psychotropic substances, were subjected to complete clinical and toxicological ascertainment involving anamnesis, objective clinical examination and double sampling of blood and urine. Results demonstrated that: (1) 58 percent of the drivers examined had consumed alcohol; (2) 34.8 percent had BACs higher than the threshold permitted in Italy (80mg percent per mL); (3) 10.56 percent of drivers were found to be under the influence of drugs of abuse or psychoactive drugs; (4) 42.8 percent of the BACs in the range 50 to 100mg percent mL as ascertained by breathalyser, showed significant discrepancies with respect to direct blood dosage; (5) the most frequently found substances were (in order): cannabinoids, cocaine, amphetamines, opiates, benzodiazepines, barbiturates. (A)
Abstract