Involvement of Alcohol in Fatalities of Wisconsin Drivers

Abstract

DEATHS in motor vehicle accidents, accounting for more than 50,000 fatalities annually (1), have been recognized as a public health problem. The role of alcohol in these traffic accidents has not been thoroughly investigated. Some estimates (1, 2) place the rate of involvement at relatively low levels (25 to 40 percent). Data from our study of Wisconsin driver fatalities show these estimates to be unrealistically low ibecause they iare based in part on data concerning all traffic accidents. More comparable data place the significant alcohol involvement at 48 to 57 percent of all drivers killed in single-car accidents (a summary of five studies, reference 3), 62 percent involvement in 37 accidents in New York City (4), 64 percent involvement in 72 accidents in Washtenaw County, Mich. (5), 50 percent involvement in all accidents reported by the National Safety Council (6), and 25 to 75 percent involvement in accidents discussed in a review of 13 sources including four international studies (7). Several studies based on post mortem data indicate that the chronic drinker may be partly responsible for the high fatality rates. Waller (8) showed that 62 percent of drunk drivers had liver pathologies, while only 15 percent of sober drivers exhibited pathological effects of drinking. Subsequently, Waller and associates (9) and Selzer and Ehrlich (10), among others, identified the chronic drinker as the most significant contributor to motor vehicle fatalities involving alcohol. Our study specifically refutes two general claims: that the "cockeyed drinker constitutes neither a pedestrian nor a driving problem. Most of these individuals are either too drunk to drive or walk and hence sleep it off" (2) ; and that "very few teenage driving accidents occur after drinking . . ." (11). Moore's study of fatalities in the neighboring State of Illinois (7) indicates that the involvement rate (involvement of alcohol in motor vehicle fatalities) is 43 percent. Our study presents similar but more detailed data for Wisconsin. Our objective was to assess the influence of various blood alcohol levels in drivers killed in motor vehicle accidents, in combination with other variables, on the incidence of traffic fatalities in Wisconsin. The study is based in part on data collected as a result of Wisconsin Statute 346.71(2), effective February 1, 1968, which states: "In case of death involving a motor vehicle in which the decedent was the operator of a motor vehicle or a pedestrian 16 years of age