Alcohol Involvement in Fatal Motor-Vehicle Crashes --
United States, 1992-1993
The following figure Figure_1 compares alcohol involvement
in fatal motor-vehicle crashes for 1992 and 1993 in the United
States.
A fatal crash is considered alcohol-related by the National Highway
Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) if either a driver or
nonoccupant (e.g., pedestrian) had a blood alcohol concentration
(BAC) of greater than or equal to 0.01 g/dL in a police-reported
traffic crash. Because BACs are not available for all persons in
fatal crashes, NHTSA estimates the number of alcohol-related
traffic fatalities based on a discriminant analysis (1) of
information from all crashes for which driver or nonoccupant BAC
data are available.
The number of alcohol-involved fatalities decreased from 1992
to 1993 for most age groups. For BACs of 0.01 g/dL-0.09 g/dL, the
overall decrease in alcohol-involved fatalities was 4%; at greater
than or equal to 0.10 g/dL, the legal limit of intoxication in most
states, the number of crash fatalities decreased 2%. The increase
in fatalities for the nonalcohol-involved crashes probably resulted
from a variety of factors, including an increase in the number and
changes in the type of vehicle miles traveled (2).
References
Klein TM. A method of estimating posterior BAC distributions for
persons involved in fatal traffic accidents: final report.
Washington, DC: US Department of Transportation, National Highway
Traffic Safety Administration, 1986; report no. DOT-HS-807-094.
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