CARBON MONOXIDE, ALCOHOL AND OTHER DRUGS ASSOCIATED WITH TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS IN THE STATE OF INDIANA. TWO YEARS TRAFFIC FATALITY SURVEY: NOVEMBER 1, 1968-OCTOBER 31, 1970

THERE WERE 3,248 TRAFFIC FATALITIES RECORDED IN THE STATE OF INDIANA DURING THE SURVEY PERIOD. THE FACT THAT ONLY 57% OF THESE FATALITIES WERE REPRESENTED IN THE SURVEY. A PORTION OF THE SPECIMEN LOSS IS DUE TO FATALITIES WHICH OCCURRED MORE THAN TWENTY-FOUR HOURS AFTER THE ACCIDENT, AND THEREFORE DID NOT QUALIFY FOR THE SURVEY. MORE THAN FIFTY-FOUR PERCENT OF THE TOTAL TRAFFIC FATALITIES DURING THE SURVEY WERE DRIVERS. UNFORTUNATELY, A FURTHER BREAKDOWN OF THE TOTAL STATISTIC WAS UNOBTAINABLE. AS EXPECTED, THE MAJORITY (68%) OF THE SPECIMENS RECEIVED WERE FROM THE DRIVER FATALITIES, SO THAT DATA OBTAINED WILL BE MOST RELEVANT FOR THIS CATEGORY. FINDINGS REVEAL THAT APPROXIMATELY 9 OUT OF 10 DRIVER FATALITIES WERE MALE CAUCASIANS. SLIGHTLY MORE THAN HALF (51%) WERE INVOLVED WITH ETHYL ALCOHOL AND MOST (75%) OF THE DRINKING DRIVERS WERE BEYOND THE CURRENT LEGAL BLOOD ALCOHOL LIMIT (0.1%) FOR OPERATING A MOTOR VEHICLE. THE PASSENGER FATALITY STATISTICS INDICATE THAT ABOUT 90% WERE CAUCASIAN, BUT AS EXPECTED, ONLY HALF WERE MALE. APPROXIMATELY 40% OF THE PASSENGERS WERE INVOLVED WITH ETHYL ALCOHOL WHEN THE ACCIDENT OCCURRED, AND THE MAJORITY OF THESE (60%) WERE LEGALLY INTOXICATED. THE RESULTS OF THE PEDESTRIAN FATALITY SPECIMENS SHOW THAT APPROXIMATELY 85% WERE MALE CAUCASIANS. ONCE AGAIN, ABOUT HALF OF THE FATALITIES CONTAINED ALCOHOL AND 79% OF THE ALCOHOL POSITIVE FATALITIES WERE LEGALLY INTOXICATED. A SURGE OF FATALITIES OCCURS BETWEEN THE AGES OF 15 AND 27 WITH BOTH ALCOHOL POSITIVE AND ALCOHOL NEGATIVE SPECIMENS. APPROXIMATELY 41% OF THE DIRVER FATALITIES AND 47% OF THE PASSENGER FATALITIES WERE FROM THIS AGE GROUP; 90% OF THE FATALITIES RESULTED FROM INJURIES TO THE UPPER TRUNK AND THAT HALF WERE DUE TO A FRACTURED SKULL. ALTHOUGH SOME DRIVERS HAD MANY PREVIOUS ARREST RECORDS, MOST DRIVERS (69%) HAD NO RECORD OF MOVING TRAFFIC VIOLATIONS. THE MAJORITY OF PREVIOUS ARRESTS WERE FOR SPEEDING. VERY FEW DRIVERS WERE INVOLVED WITH EITHER CARBON MONOXIDE OR DRUGS AT THE TIME OF THE FATALITY. THE TYPE OF DRUGS FOUND IS CORRELATED TO THE BLOOD ALCOHOL CONCENTRATION AND FATALITY CLASSIFICATION. /SRIS/

• Supplemental Notes:
  • Contract AL 69-1-001 FORNEY
• Corporate Authors:

  Indiana State Dept of Toxicology

  ,    
• Authors:
  • Forney, R B
• Publication Date: 1970

Media Info

• Features: Figures; Tables;
• Pagination: 55 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Alcoholism; Blood alcohol levels; Drivers; Drugs; Drunk driving; Fatalities; Human characteristics
• Uncontrolled Terms: Driver characteristics; Violations
• Subject Areas: Highways; Safety and Human Factors; Society;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00224439
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Nat Safety Council Safety Res Info Serv
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Mar 23 1974 12:00AM