In 1982, 57% of all highway fatalities in US involved a driver or pedestrian with BAC=0.1 or greater; by 1994 this had dropped to 42%. In contrast, proportion of alcohol impaired fatally injured pedestrians has decreased only slightly. Male involvement in fatalities per 100,000 drivers is three times that of females; male drivers in fatal crashes are also twice as likely to be intoxicated as females. More vigorous and effective enforcement has been cited as one factor in the decrease of impaired driving; administrative licence revocation has been effective. Increase in drinking age to 21 has reduced alcohol related fatalities and injuries among young people. There has been a great increase in anti-alcohol activism and public awareness. The most efficient means of increasing price of alcohol is taxation. Increases in beer taxation were found to have reduced vehicle fatality rates in the 15-24 age group. Responsible serving of drinks would reduce impaired driving. Between a third and a half of all drivers killed in crashes were served in a bar prior to the crash; 90% had a BAC of 0.12% or higher, which means that they were served after legal intoxication. Server training programmes began in mid-1980s and some effectivess is indicated. Mandatory seat belt use has decreased fatalities by 5-15%. This paper was also published in Volume 1 of the Proceedings of the alcohol, drugs and traffic safety conference, T'95, Adelaide, August 1995 (IRRD 878106).
Samenvatting