The study of alcohol involvement in Texas driver fatalities began in 1983 when the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) contracted with Texas Transportation Institute (TTI) to investigate the role of alcohol involvement in driver fatality crashes. The primary objective of the study was to establish and maintain a data base of post mortem blood alcohol concentration (BAC) test results because a centralized repository for toxicological data pertaining to motor vehicle fatalities did not exist at the time. Prior to the initiation of this study, estimates of alcohol involvement in Texas motor vehicle collisions were typically determined by the subjective assessments of investigating law enforcement officers. In the present study, one-to-one comparisons of BAC test results to the reporting of alcohol as a contributing factor on traffic accidents reports provided such an assessment and further documented the need for more complete BAC testing of driver fatalities. (Author/publisher) For the Executive Summary, see http://tti.tamu.edu/documents/TTI-1992-9.pdf
Samenvatting