Monday, January 19, 2009

DRUNKEN PEDESTRIANS CAUSE CRASHES

Society has too long ignored the role of drunken pedestrians in causing severe highway crashes, according to Prof. Julian Waller of the University of Vermont.

"Ingestion of alcohol by pedestrians is an important factor in severe highway crashes, just as alcohol is important in the injury of drivers and their passengers, Prof. Waller reports in "California Medicine".

Prof. Waller points out 20 percent of all highway fatalities in the U.S. (the majority in some urban areas) are pedestrians, and about 50 percent fatally injured adult pedestrians have high blood alcohol concentrations.

"In most such fatalities involving alcohol, the pedestrian, rather than the driver is responsible for iniating the crash," he says.

In addition, almost half of fatally injured adult passengers have alcohol in their systems: "When both fatally injured drivers and their passengers have been tested, they have been found in most cases to have limilar blood alcohol concentrations."

Alcohol is also a significant factor in crashes causing property damage and minor injuries, and can be blamed for the deaths of an estimated 25-40% percent innocent victims, he says.

With such data available, Prof. Waller deplores the common erroneous statement that half of all highway fatalities are caused by drinking drivers. "

There must be less emphasis in implicating drinking per se, and more on implicating drinking sufficient to cause impairment.

He points out the majority of drinkers consume less than three drinks at one sitting and do not usually have crashes involving alcohol. Of those that do have trouble on the highway because of alcohol, two thirds are serious problem drinkers and most of the remainder are teenagers (inexperienced at both drinking and driving) and "very heavy social drinkers".

Prof. Waller would encourage "recognition that the basic goal of highway safety is reducing losses, rather than changing presumed or documented unsafe behaviaor" and suggest it may be done "by moderating energy transfer in crashes through changes in vehicle and highway consturction, and by providing better emergency care for the injured.

THE JOURNAL

DON SAYS: Some of the statistics are quite interesting. How do we however, regulate the walking alcoholic. It would be hard to handle from that angle, and we suppose better regulation of rules of the road and the construction thereon is the best way to go.


DON

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