Alcohol Involvement in Motorcycle Accidents

The in-depth investigations of two studies involving 1200 motorcycle accidents in Los Angeles were merged and analyzed for factors associated with alcohol involvement in motorcyclists and vehicle drivers who collided with motorcycles. A variety of factors converge around alcohol use to increase the likelihood of severe injury and death in alcohol related motorcycle accidents. Motorcycle riders who drank were more prone to operator error, to simply run off the road, to crash at higher speeds and less likely to have worn a helmet, hence more likely to be fatally injured than nondrinking motorcyclists. Fatally injured motorcyclists who showed evidence of prolonged alcohol abuse (1 in 7) were more likely to have been drinking or been intoxicated than non-abusers. Motorcycle operator and passenger alcohol consumption were strongly correlated. Drinking car drivers who struck a motorcycle were more likely to be in the striking vehicle in a rear-end or head-on collision and to be going faster when they collided.