Alcohol Involvement in Fatal Motor-Vehicle Crashes--United States, 1997-1998

doi:10.1001/jama.283.5.598

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Vol. 283 No. 5, February 2, 2000

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From the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report

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Alcohol Involvement in Fatal Motor-Vehicle Crashes—United States, 1997-1998

JAMA. 2000;283:598-599.

MMWR. 1999;38:1086-1087

The following table compares alcohol involvement in fatal motor-vehiclecrashes by age group and blood alcohol concentration (BAC) levelsfor 1997 and 1998. A fatal crash is considered alcohol-relatedby the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)if either a driver or nonoccupant (e.g., pedestrian) had a BACof $>=$ 0.01 g/dL in a police-reported traffic crash. Because BACsare not available for all persons in fatal crashes, NHTSA estimatesthe number of alcohol-related traffic fatalities on the basisof a discriminant analysis of information from all cases forwhich driver or nonoccupant BAC data are available.¹

Overall, the percentage of traffic fatalities that were alcoholrelated remained constant at 38.4% in 1998 and 38.5% in 1997.From 1997 to 1998, the number of alcohol-related traffic fatalitiesdecreased 1.6% (95% confidence interval = -3.7%-0.6%), witha decease of 2.0% for BACs $>=$ 0.10 g/dL (the legal limit of intoxicationin most states) and no percentage change (but one less death)for BACs of 0.01-0.09 g/dL.

A decrease of 5.8% in the number of alcohol-related trafficfatalities is needed to achieve the national health objectivefor 2000. Effective strategies for reducing alcohol impaireddriving include strict enforcement of impaired driving and minimumlegal drinking age laws, sobriety checkpoints, and prompt suspensionof licenses of persons arrested for driving while impaired.CDC, in collaboration with the Task Force on Community PreventiveServices, is evaluating the effectiveness of community-basedstrategies to reduce alcohol-related motor-vehicle injuries.

REFERENCES

1. Klein TM. A method for 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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