Risk Factors For Motor Vehicle Crashes Research Articles

Alcohol and Other Drug Use Among Victims of Motor-Vehicle Crashes—West Virginia, 2004-2005

Alcohol use is a well-established risk factor for motor-vehicle crashes. In 2005, approximately 39% of all traffic fatalities in the United States were alcohol related. Evidence of driver impairment from use of drugs other than alcohol is less definitive. In 2005, an estimated 4.3% of persons in the United States reported driving under the influence of a drug used recreationally during the preceding year, and an unknown percentage drove while impaired by drugs being used for medical reasons. To measure the prevalence of alcohol and drug use among persons killed in motor-vehicle crashes in West Virginia (where test results were available for >80% of fatalities), CDC analyzed 2004 and 2005 data reported by the West Virginia Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) to the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). This report summarizes the results of that analysis, which determined that the prevalence of drug use (25.8%) was similar to the prevalence of a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) >0.08 g/dL (27.7%) among persons killed in motor-vehicle crashes. These results suggest that drug use contributes substantially to driver impairment in West Virginia. Measuring the magnitude of this problem nationally will require better surveillance data. Both surveillance and the development of prevention measures are hampered by difficulties in quantifying and defining drug impairment.

#54 Fatal motor vehicle crashes among veterans of the gulf war era

Abstract PURPOSE: Motor vehicle crashes (MVC) are the leading cause of death among military personnel, and deployment has been associated with an increased risk of fatal MVC within military populations. Gulf War (GW) deployment has also been associated with an increased risk of fatal MVC. We evaluated selected variables as predictors of fatal MVC among GW era veterans using existing Department of Defense, Department of Veterans Affairs, and Department of Transportation (DoT) databases. METHODS: This is a nested case-control study of a cohort comprised of 696,516 Gulf War veterans and 746,291 non-deployed veterans. 1,343 cases of fatal MVC occurring between 1991 and 1995 were identified from the cohort by linking to the DoT Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS). Ten controls were selected per case, matched by gender and year of case ascertainment. We examined data on demographic and military characteristics; hospitalizations and outpatient visits; self-reported behaviors, lifestyle, and psychosocial factors; and possible GW exposures as potential risk factors for fatal MVC. RESULTS: Fatal MVC on US public roads that caused the death of the driver were not randomly distributed across our study population. Fatalities involving female drivers were few (n = 28). Male fatalities were more likely to be younger, less educated, and never married compared to controls. Cases were also more likely to be enlisted, deployed to the GW, have combat occupations, be in the Guard or Reserve, and be other than Air Force. Inpatient and outpatient data and socio-behavioral data, as well as information from FARS will be reported separately. CONCLUSION: Our findings are consistent with previous studies that have reported military deployment as a risk factor for fatal MVC. We also identified several other factors that increase this risk. Additional studies to investigate potential risk factors for all MVC, not just fatalities, are warranted so that appropriate interventions can be designed and evaluated.

Motor-vehicle crash-injury risk factors among American Indians

The rates of motor-vehicle crash mortality are highest among American Indians and Alaska Natives, compared to other ethnic groups. The aim of this study was to compare risk factors for motor-vehicle crashes and occupant injuries between rural and urban American-Indian (AI) drivers, and between rural AI and non-AI rural drivers. A statewide traffic-accident database was linked to the Indian Health Service patient-registration database to identify crashes that involved American-Indian drivers. Using a cross-sectional design, crashes occurring in a two-county region during 1989 and 1990 were studied. A total of 9329 motor-vehicle crashes involving 16,234 drivers and 6431 passengers were studied. Two percent of drivers were American Indian. Compared to American-Indian drivers in urban crashes, rural crashes involving American-Indian drivers were more likely to result in injury or death (38% vs 64%, p < 0.001). The difference in risk for crashes between urban and rural non-AI drivers was not as high (42% vs 33%). Only 44 percent of rural American-Indian motor-vehicle occupants reported wearing seat belts, compared to 70 percent of urban American-Indian occupants ( p < 0.05). Rates of driver alcohol impairment, as assessed by the police, were much higher among AI drivers and highest among rural AI drivers. We conclude that, compared to non-American-Indian drivers, AI drivers are less likely to be restrained and more likely to be alcohol-impaired at the time of the crash. These risks are higher among rural AI drivers than urban AI drivers.