In this research, the impact of per capita consumption of alcohol on alcohol-related traffic fatalities in ontario between 1957 and 1983 was examined. three measures of alcohol involvement were selected. the first, drinking drivers (police reported) involved in fatal accidents, was a direct measure. the second and third, single-vehicle fatal accidents and nighttime fatal accidents, were surrogate measures. also, three corresponding measures of fatal accidents not involving alcohol (normal drivers (police reported) involved in fatal accidents, multipe vehicle fatal accidents, and daytime fatal accidents) were chosen to control for general road safety trends. the results of regression analyses indicated that both per capita consumptionand general road safety trends were significent contributors to allthree measures of alcohol-involved fatalities. these and other recent data suggest that any effort to prevent alcohol-related problems such as liver cirrhosis through control of per capita consumption will also have a beneficial impact on alcohol-related accidents.(a).
Abstract