Fatal Car Accidents Research Articles

Fatal Drink-Driving Accidents of Young Adult and Middle-Aged Males—A Risky Driving Style or Risky Lifestyle?

Objective. A range of situational and lifestyle-related factors in drink-driving fatal accidents were studied involving young adult and middle-aged male drivers in Finland. Methods. Fatal drink-driving accidents were compared to fatal accidents in which the driver had been sober. The study included all 18-to 59-year-old male drivers' fatal car and van accidents investigated by the Road Accident Investigation Teams in Finland between 2000 and 2002 (n = 366 accidents). The variables describing the situation included the time of the accident, the road condition, the speed, possession of a valid licence, seat-belt usage, and the presence of passengers. Results. The study found that among young adult males most of the studied situational factors bore no relation to the state of the driver (sober or drink driver). Only the time of day, seat-belt, usage, and possession of a valid licence were related to the state of the driver. Among middle-aged male drivers, drink-driving and sober driving accidents differed more clearly. Further, when the social situation in the car was examined, it was found that accidents of sober and drink drivers differed from each other within the group of middle-aged drivers but not within the group of young adult drivers. Heavy alcohol usage was found to characterize the lifestyle of the studied middle-aged drink drivers. Conclusions. It was concluded that for young adult males drink-driving was a part of a more general risky driving style. Among middle-aged males drink-driving was more related to a risky lifestyle with drinking problems. Possible countermeasures are discussed with regard to drink-driving among young adult and middle-aged males.

Finding Love in the Wreckage: Estimating Spousal Altruism with Data on Fatal Car Accidents

This paper estimates the degree of altruism among spouses by examining how often the driver of a car sacrifices himself or herself in order to save a spouse. Holding constant the magnitude of a collision, a driver can maneuver the car to distribute the risk from a collision between the driver and a passenger. We quantify spousal altruism by the degree to which drivers riding with their spouse redistribute the risk from a fatal accident to themselves - as measured by ex post mortality - as compared to drivers not traveling with their spouse. We find that drivers with their spouses are at least 37% more likely to sacrifice themselves. This implies that they value the lives of their spouses at least 37% more than the lives of other individuals.

JOURNALISM AND TRAUMA

Competition for ratings and an ever-increasing public hunger for information have led to an abundance of death and suffering on the local evening news because these topics are both eye catching and attention grabbing. But while a great deal of research exists on journalists who cover war, very little can be found which investigates the local journalist and how they continue to do their jobs in the face of the murders, fatal car accidents and fires which make up the bulk of their daily work. This study sheds light on the subject by applying qualitative research methods to the personal narratives of 26 television reporters and photographers from a large Midwestern television market. By using a framework developed by Baumeister and Newman (1994), this study shows how the way in which these types of experiences are remembered by journalists helps them to continue to do their jobs.

Patient page. The risk of fatal car crashes in people with epilepsy.

### What are seizures and epilepsy? Seizures are sudden, unpredictable events that can temporarily interfere with a person’s ability to think or act normally. A person has epilepsy if he or she has had more than one seizure. Sometimes medication can control epilepsy, but not always. Seizures can cause injury or death if they happen while swimming or driving a car. More information about seizures and epilepsy appears on the next page. ### What does the law say about driving and seizures? Laws temporarily prohibit people from driving after a seizure. The restriction period varies by state (usually 3 to 12 months). If no seizures occur during the restriction period, the patient can drive again. However, sometimes seizures recur after long periods without seizures, even if a patient takes medicine to prevent seizures. Seizures more commonly recur if a patient stops taking seizure medications. ### What is the latest research on driving and epilepsy? In this issue of Neurology , researchers from Johns Hopkins University studied how often seizures or epilepsy cause fatal car accidents.1 They looked at death certificates of drivers who died in car crashes from 1995 to 1997. About 44,027 US drivers die each year in car crashes. Only 86 of these death certificates (0.2%) listed seizures or epilepsy as a contributing factor. Alcohol caused 156 times more driver deaths than seizures. Young drivers (age 16 to 24) died in accidents 123 times more often than drivers of any age who crashed due to a seizure. The driver fatality crash rate for the general population was 2.6 times higher than epilepsy-related driver fatalities. This is because seizures …

Pelvic trauma in rapidly fatal motor vehicle accidents.

To study the incidence and nature of pelvic fractures in rapidly fatal automobile accidents. Retrospective. County Medical Examiner's Office. The files of 255 consecutive motor vehicle accident fatalities examined at the Jefferson County Coroner/Medical Examiner's office (study period 1996-1998) were reviewed. We correlated this information with our previous findings, derived from a review of 392 such cases (study period 1994-1996). Approximately 25% of decedents involved in rapidly fatal automobile accidents sustained pelvic fractures. In 93% of the cases, postmortem radiographs were available and suitable for scoring according to the Orthopaedic Trauma Association nomenclature. The distribution of pelvic fractures by type was type A, 16%; type B, 32%; and type C, 52%, with the most common pelvic fracture being type C1 (26%). Additionally, pedestrians and motorcyclists were twice as likely to sustain a pelvic fracture, and the severity of pelvic fracture type seemed to correlate with increasing speed of the automobile. No correlation between drug use or direction of impact and incidence or type of pelvic fracture was observed. Compared with published studies on survivors of automobile accidents, our data suggest that pelvic injuries may tend to be more severe in victims who do not survive to hospitalization. Our data indicate that current estimates about the mortality of pelvic fractures may be faulty due to exclusion of victims who fail to survive to hospitalization. This series suggests that an appreciation of the full spectrum of pelvic ring disruptions requires collaboration between orthopaedic surgeons and forensic pathologists.

PROTECTIVE EFFECT OF NIGELLA SATIVA OIL ON TESTICULAR MORPHO-PHYSYLOGICAL CHANGES INDUCED BY CHRONIC ALCOHOLISM IN ALBINO RATS

Alcoholism is an illness caused by consumption of alcohol beverages at a levelthat interferes with physical or mental health. and social. family, or occupational responsibility.People with alcohol dependence have to increase markedly amounts ofalcohol to achieve intoxication or the desired effect (Thomas, 20(3).Alcoholism affects 15 1020 million Americans and affects three to four timesas many family members. coworkers. and friends, It is involved in half of all fatalautomobile accidents and is responsible for more than 100,000 deaths annually. representingabout 5% of all deaths in the United States. Fetal alcohol syndrome is thethird leading cause of birth defects with accompanying mental retardation(Michigan society for medical research, 2003).Acute and chronic alcoholism carry the potential to damage many organs of thebody. including the heart. brain. liver, kidney, digestive system and reproductivesystem (erectile dysfunction and cessation of menstruation). When alcohol was given.its level in the body increased and produced the intoxication effects. The undesirabletoxic effects include damage of Leydig cells and spermatogenic lineage cells(Michigan society for medical research, 2003).Zinc is essential for normal growth and reproduction and it has a beneficial effecton the process of tissue repair and wound healing (King, 1990). Zinc is a constituentof antioxidant. superoxide disrnutase. It is also needed for proper maintenanceof vitamin E level in the blood and aids in the absorption of vitamin A (Bertand Falchuk, 1993). It exerts a protective effect and possibly preventing cellulardamage caused by oxidative stress (Marchesini et aI., 1996).

Analysis of the incidence of pelvic trauma in fatal automobile accidents.

Pelvic fractures are frequent complications of motor vehicle accidents, and motor vehicle accidents are the most common cause of pelvic fracture. Although pelvic fractures are associated with considerable morbidity and mortality, there has traditionally been no attempt to grade or classify pelvic fractures during postmortem examination. The authors performed a retrospective study of cases examined at the Jefferson County Coroner/Medical Examiner Office from 1994 to 1996, reviewing investigative reports and autopsy findings. Radiographs were examined for the presence and Tile type of pelvic fracture. Pelvic fractures were identified in 88 of 392 cases (23%). In most (89%), the pelvic fracture was readily classified according to Tile type on the basis of radiographs and the inferred mechanism of injury. This study indicates that current estimates of the mortality of pelvic fractures are low because of the exclusion of individuals who do not survive to hospitalization. Furthermore, pelvic fractures in rapidly fatal motor vehicle accidents tend to be more severe than fractures in individuals who have a significant interval of survival. The presence and classification of pelvic fractures may be readily determined by radiographs in most cases. The Tile classification scheme is easy to apply and has important implications in the comparison of study groups.

CDC to Build System To Track Violent Deaths

Back to table of contents Previous article Next article Professional NewsFull AccessCDC to Build System To Track Violent DeathsEve KupersaninEve KupersaninSearch for more papers by this authorPublished Online:1 Mar 2002https://doi.org/10.1176/pn.37.5.0013Each year approximately 50,000 Americans die violent deaths. To learn more about homicides, suicides, and unintentional gun deaths and ultimately stop them, the Just the Facts Campaign is working to build broad-based support for a National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS).The NVDRS is a new initiative of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that will provide for the first time a uniform, detailed state-based data system, which is hoped to guide strategies that prevent violent deaths.A number of health organizations, such as APA, are joining together to request federal support for the project. In December 2001, Congress approved the first funding for the NVDRS—$1.5 million for fiscal year 2002.Suicide accounts for 30,000 of those deaths, while other deaths result from assaults, child abuse, domestic violence, and youth violence, according to Martha Witwer, M.P.H., M.S.W., executive director of the HELP Network. The network includes more than 120 medical and professional organizations committed to reducing the number of deaths caused by handguns. In addition to APA, HELP’s membership includes the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, the American Medical Association, and the American Academy of Pediatrics.Current tracking systems lack data on the circumstances leading up to each death and other important details, such as the type of weapon involved in the killing and place of death, according to Witwer.Another problem is that there is no integrated system to collect information on violent deaths. “Death certificates provide some information on violent deaths, while police, crime labs, and medical examiners collect other information that can fill in the details about such deaths,” Witwer noted.The goal is for the NVDRS to connect data from these and other systems to get a full picture of each death and the circumstances surrounding it. It doesn’t reinvent the wheel but instead aims to get input from different agencies and to compile the data in a uniform way. The cost of building such a system, which initially may involve up to 20 states, is about $10 million, and the cost for 50 states to maintain the system would be twice that figure each year.At a meeting in May 2000, representatives from the FBI, the Bureau of Justice Statistics, and the U.S. Surgeon General’s Office agreed that the NVDRS should be coordinated and funded by the federal government and maintained by the CDC. Last year more than 60 organizations from the fields of medicine, public health, child welfare, youth violence, and domestic violence prevention signed letters to members of Congress requesting support for the system.According to David Fassler, M.D., chair of APA’s Council on Children, Adolescents, and Their Families, the goal of the campaign is to increase awareness and recognition about the problems associated with violence in the United States and work together to develop effective solutions. Fassler is the APA representative to the Just the Facts Campaign and a member of its National Speakers Bureau.“There is a need to collect strong and accurate data and to think about violence as a public health problem,” said Fassler. He added that health professionals, schools, families, and entire communities can work together to come up with effective solutions.Stressing the powers of prevention, Fassler said, “Most kids who get involved in serious violence have had signs and symptoms for years. We need to do a better job of getting to them earlier and making sure they get comprehensive evaluations and the appropriate interventions.”Fassler also said he is concerned about the incidence of suicide in adolescents and, lately, an increase in the number attributable to firearms.Two smaller-scale tracking systems would serve as models for NVDRS. One is the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which collects information in all 50 states on fatal automobile accidents. Policymakers have used FARS data to bring about safety interventions such as child-restraint laws and campaigns against drunken driving.The other is the National Violence Injury Statistics System at the Harvard Injury Control Research Center. The program is now piloting a data collection protocol in which 13 sites across the country collect information on violent deaths and nonfatal injury data. For instance, if a person commits suicide, data on his or her mental health history and prior attempts are collected. Other factors noted are health status, relationship problems, job stresses, and the presence or absence of a suicide note.U.S. Surgeon General David Satcher, M.D., also called for better data collection on suicides in his National Strategy for Suicide Prevention, released last May (Psychiatric News, June 1, 2001).The Web site of the Help Network is www.helpnetwork.org, and the Just the Facts Web site is www.jtfcampaign.org. ▪ ISSUES NewArchived

Fatal accidents following changes in daylight savings time: the American experience

Objective: This study examines specific hypotheses that both sleep loss and behavioral changes occurring with the time shifts for Daylight Savings Time (DST) significantly effect the number of fatal traffic accidents in the United States of America. Background: It has been reported that there is a significant increase in the number of automobile accidents in the spring shift to DST due to the loss of 1 h of sleep. But the extra hour gained at night with the shift from DST in the fall has been variably reported to be associated with increases and decreases in the number of automobile accidents which may reflect either behavioral anticipation with an extended late night prior to the change or the benefit of extra sleep after the change. Methods: Data from 21 years of United States’ fatal automobile accidents were gathered. The mean number of accidents on the days at the time of the shifts (Saturday, Sunday and Monday) was compared to the average of the corresponding mean number of accidents on the matching day of the weeks preceding and following the shift. This was repeated for each DST shift. The number of accidents for a particular shift was also correlated with the year of the accidents. Results: There was a significant increase in accidents for the Monday immediately following the spring shift to DST ( t=1.92, P=0.034). There was also a significant increase in number of accidents on the Sunday of the fall shift from DST ( P<0.002). No significant changes were observed for the other days. A significant negative correlation with the year was found between the number of accidents on the Saturdays and Sundays but not Mondays. Conclusions: The sleep deprivation on the Monday following shift to DST in the spring results in a small increase in fatal accidents. The behavioral adaptation anticipating the longer day on Sunday of the shift from DST in the fall leads to an increased number of accidents suggesting an increase in late night (early Sunday morning) driving when traffic related fatalities are high possibly related to alcohol consumption and driving while sleepy. Public health educators should probably consider issuing warnings both about the effects of sleep loss in the spring shift and possible behaviors such as staying out later, particularly when consuming alcohol in the fall shift. Sleep clinicians should be aware that health consequences from forced changes in the circadian patterns resulting from DST come not only from physiological adjustments but also from behavioral responses to forced circadian changes.

On Today's Episode

Today's episode will feature six dances, five embraces, nine kisses (thirty-three percent of them furtive), five coffee shop scenes and as many in the night club, two car chases, four close-calls of various sorts, one case of amnesia and two fatal car accidents. Each accident involves twins in some fashion, the more serious of the two because it takes place on the new tollroad at seventy-plus miles per hour between a pair of twin brothers, the additional cruel irony here being that the twins' father was both the mastermind and driving force behind the pro-tollroad campaign that convinced the electorate to pass the referendum that issued the municipal bonds that funded the contractors that hired the subcontractors that paid the construction crew that built the tollroad that resulted in the fiery, wee-hours-of-the-- morning deaths of his beloved twin boys, Cable and Cord. The other accident on today's episode is between a man and a woman who each have twins themselves but luckily are not accompanied by their twins today. Someone has to be there to grieve. The case of amnesia is also notable for involving twins, though this is a case of a woman forgetting that she has a twin, but then she forgets everything, so that stands to reason. On today's episode expect three corporate takeovers (two will fail, the third will succeed but at a great, unforeseen price). On today's episode a mansion will go up in flames, and the new whom nobody had a complaint in the world about and some even found kind of, well, cute-for a butler, I mean-will turn out to be well-versed in all the necessary evacuation techniques. Best of all he will know CPR! Mouth-to-mouth resuscitation is not unlikely! Everyone in the mansion, the whole extended-family lot of them, will be spared. But their possessions! Their clothes! Their priceless collection of Ming silverware and Ping wall-coverings and Sing knickknacks will be lost to the fire. What sick person set this fire (because of course it is arson, we can expect that much from today's plot)? Who? Who? unfortunately is not a question to be answered today. But back to the plot, and the butler. In addition to his fire-fighting acumen (on this score we can expect to see him posed shirtless fighting the fire with a garden hose taken out of the startled hands of the gardener, Juan Luis, of whom more later) we will also learn that the is someone from the past. He is in other words the butler and not the butler. The butler is not the we think he is. Neither is the in-house nurse at the other mansion in this affluent community on Long Island, New York, New York, New York a certified in-house nurse. This family living in this second mansion also employs Juan Luis, a gardener and all-purpose groundskeeper and general observer of all bad things that pass. Also employed here is Carmen, the housekeeper. Carmen we know is really Kimberly, the youngest daughter of the family, and one thought to have disappeared under, shall we say, inappropriate circumstances. Remember the scandal of discovered drugs, a period of yelling, the pictures (never shown) of her naked in a skin magazine called Skin, another period of yelling, the rash of neighborhood burglaries up and down the street all pointing back to this mansion and Kimberly's upstairs bedroom, the equally suspicious and attention-raising string of high-priced sales of Ming silverware, some of it actually counterfeit Mings, on Ebay, the Internet auction community, yet another period of yelling, and how she was last seen in the company of a rodeo clown transporting what we thought was a truckload of hoof and tail shampoo many friends swear makes a good hand cream for humans that in fact turned out to be an illegal arms shipment? Remember that? Now she is back in the mansion as Carmen, waiting for the right moment to reveal herself to her family, testify to her reformed ways and new, righteously substance-free, lifestyle, and then fall into a joyous hugging mess of them. …

Executive Summary of Joint Task Force Practice Parameters on Diagnosis and Management of Rhinitis.

Rhinitis is a significant cause of widespread morbidity, medical treatment costs, reduced work productivity and lost school days. Although sometimes mistakenly viewed as a trivial disease, symptoms of allergic and non-allergic rhinitis may significantly impact a patient's quality of life, by causing fatigue, headache, cognitive impairment and other systemic symptoms. In addition, many antihistamines commonly used for treatment can themselves cause performance impairment that may contribute to fatal automobile accidents, work place accidents, decreased work productivity and in children, impaired school performance. Appropriate management of rhinitis may be an important component in effective management of coexisting or complicating respiratory conditions, such as asthma, sinusitis, or chronic otitis media. Rhinitis may be caused by allergic, non-allergic, infectious, hormonal, occupational, and other factors. Defining the causes of rhinitis in an individual is important because different rhinitis syndromes may require different therapeutic approaches for optimal management, an important consideration as more treatment options become available. This Executive Summary reviews key points about diagnosis and management of rhinitis contained in the comprehensive document, Diagnosis and Management of Rhinitis: Complete Guidelines of Joint Task Force on Practice Parameters in Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, and Joint Task Force Algorithm and Annotations for Diagnosis and Management of Rhinitis. These documents represent a consensus opinion of the Joint Task Force on Practice Parameters in Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, a national panel co-sponsored by the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, and the Joint Council on Allergy, Asthma and Immunology.

Differences in fatal loss-of-control accidents between young male and female drivers

The study describes some factors behind fatal loss-of-control accidents of young male and female drivers. These loss-of-control accidents were compared to accidents in which the driver did not lose control of the car. The data comprised all fatal car accidents of young (18–21 years old) drivers in Finland during the years 1978–1991. Only culpable drivers were included in the analysis (the number of accidents studied was 338 for males and 75 for females). All these accidents were investigated by the Road Accident Investigation Teams in Finland and the original team reports were used. The results showed that equal proportions of all male and female drivers' accidents were loss-of-control accidents. However, when male drivers lost control of their car, it usually led to a single-vehicle accident, but for female drivers the loss of control usually resulted in a collision with another car. Male drivers drove too fast and under the influence of alcohol more often in loss-of-control accidents than in other types of accidents. Typically the male drivers' loss of control accidents took place during evenings and nights. The female drivers' loss-of-control accidents usually took place in slippery road conditions. This study concludes that risky driving habits play a bigger role in male drivers' loss-of-control accidents than in male drivers' no loss-of-control accidents or in any kind of female drivers' accidents. Lack of vehicle handling skills may be crucial in female drivers' loss-of-control accidents. Advantages of studying loss-of-control accidents instead of single-vehicle accidents are discussed.

Alzheimer's disease and apolipoprotein E ε4 allele in older drivers who died in automobile accidents

1 Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common cause of impaired cognitive function in the elderly and its prevalence increases with age. In addition, carriers of the e4 allele of apolipoprotein E (APOE) gene have a two-fold to five- fold higher risk of developing late-onset AD. 2 Because of the insidious onset of AD, affected people do not generally seek medical advice during the early stages, and if they do, the physician may not recognise early cognitive impairment. Neuropathological characteristics of AD are senile plaques, especially of the neuritic type and neurofibrillary tangles. 3 The presence of the e4 allele increases the load of senile plaques. To assess whether AD contributes to fatal automobile accidents, we analysed the frequency of neuropathological changes of AD as well as of e4 allele in older drivers who were killed. Results of neuropathological examinations on 98 drivers aged 65 years and older (mean 75·2, range 65-90 years) killed in traffic accidents in Sweden and southwestern Finland between June, 1992, and January, 1995, were obtained. Bielschowsky-stained sections from two regions of associative cortex—middle frontal and angular parietal gyri—which are

Blood Substitutes

Blood Substitutes

We are Chronically Sleep Deprived

Data from recent laboratory studies indicate that nocturnal sleep periods reduced by as little as 1.3 to 1.5 hours for 1 night result in reduction of daytime alertness by as much as 32% as measured by the Multiple Sleep Latency Test (MSLT). Other data document that 1) 17%-57% of normal young adults have MSLT latencies of < or = 5.5 minutes, whereas < or = 50% have MSLT values of > or = 10 minutes and 2) 28%-29% of young adults reported normally sleeping < or = 6.5 hours on each weeknight. More extensive reduction of daily sleep amount is seen in nightshift workers. A minimum of 2%-4% of middle-aged adults have hypersomnolence associated with sleep apnea. Together, these data show that significant sleep loss exists in one-third or more of normal adults, that the effects are large and replicable and that similar effects can be produced in just 1 night in the laboratory. In light of the magnitude of this sleep debt, it is not surprising that fatigue is a factor in 57% of accidents leading to the death of a truck driver and in 10% of fatal car accidents and results in costs of up to 56 billion dollars per year. A recent sleep extension study suggests that the average underlying sleep tendency in young adults is about 8.5 hours per night. By comparison, the average reported sleep length of 7.2-7.4 hours is deficient, and common sleep lengths of < or = 6.5 hours can be disastrous. We must recognize the alertness function of sleep and the increasing consequences of sleepiness with the same vigor that we have come to recognize the societal impact of alcohol.

“Mistakes were made”: Organizations, apologia, and crises of social legitimacy

Organizations charged with wrongdoing often face social legitimacy crises and subsequently issue apologiae. Whether the charge is rooted in incompetence, as was Exxon's after the Alaskan oil spill, or a policy choice viewed to be irresponsible, as in the case of Domino's Pizza after a series of fatal automobile accidents, corporate apologists seek to purify their damaged images through a negative strategy of dissociation and a positive strategy of corrective action and reaffirmation of public values. This generic analysis suggests that corporate apologia warrants a distinct line of research due to the significant'differences that distinguish itffbm individualist conceptions of apologia.

Drinking and Flying — The Problem of Alcohol Use by Pilots

ALCOHOL is the most widely used and misused drug in the Western world. The cost to the United States in 1990 in terms of lost production, crime, accidents, and treatment related to alcohol misuse is expected to exceed $136 billion, and alcohol intoxication is a cause or contributing factor in approximately 40 percent of all fatal automobile accidents.1 Alcohol misuse is also a problem among the nearly 700,000 general-aviation pilots in this country. ( General aviation refers to all civil-aviation operations other than those conducted for remuneration or hire; therefore, it does not include the commercial airlines or military operations.) . . .

Definition of impairment essential for prosecuting 'drunken drivers'

ABSTRACT Effective prosecution for drunken requires a definition of impairment acceptable in all jurisdictions. This is particularly important today because, even by conservative estimates, ethyl alcohol plays a role in at least half of all fatal automobile accidents (eg, Ross, HL: Deterring the Drinking Driver, Lexington, Mass, Lexington Books, 1984; and Henry [ed]: Todd, Sanford, Davidsohn Clinical Diagnosis and Management by Laboratory Methods, ed 17, Philadelphia, WB Saunders Co, 1984, p 368).The need for an objective, enforceable, and well-defined test for ethanol concentration in a body fluid therefore seems straightforward enough. But as the countless books, pamphlets, and policy documents on defending or deterring the drunken suggest, there is a tremendous amount of confusion—among those outside the field—about what is the best test to measure blood alcohol concentrations and even about the units in which to report these concentrations.To convict a driver of driving under the influence, prosecutors must show that the driver's behavior has

Definition of impairment essential for prosecuting 'drunken drivers'

Effective prosecution for "drunken driving" requires a definition of impairment acceptable in all jurisdictions. This is particularly important today because, even by conservative estimates, ethyl alcohol plays a role in at least half of all fatal automobile accidents (eg, Ross, HL:<i>Deterring the Drinking Driver</i>, Lexington, Mass, Lexington Books, 1984; and Henry [ed]:<i>Todd, Sanford, Davidsohn Clinical Diagnosis and Management by Laboratory Methods</i>, ed 17, Philadelphia, WB Saunders Co, 1984, p 368). The need for an objective, enforceable, and well-defined test for ethanol concentration in a body fluid therefore seems straightforward enough. But as the countless books, pamphlets, and policy documents on defending or deterring the "drunken driver" suggest, there is a tremendous amount of confusion—among those outside the field—about what is the best test to measure blood alcohol concentrations and even about the units in which to report these concentrations. To convict a driver of "driving under the influence," prosecutors must show that the driver's behavior has

The effect of the unrestrained back seat passenger on the injuries suffered by drivers and front seat passengers in head-on collisions.

In head-on collisions, loose items in the rear of the car, such as luggage or unrestrained back seat passengers can cause substantial loading on the back of the front seats. The purpose of this paper is to study if such loading increases the injury severity for the front seat occupants. Data were collected from all fatal automobile accidents for a period of 1 year in Sweden. Information was collected about the survivors as well as the decreased. Head-on collisions were selected, and the injuries of the front seat occupants were scored according to the Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS) and the Injury Severity Score (ISS). In evaluating the injury severity, the collision energy was taken into account. The results indicate that belted front seat passengers sustain a higher injury risk with an unrestrained passenger in the back seat. These results are valid for collision speeds below 45 km/h.