Alcohol Involvement in Texas Driver Fatalities: Accident Reports versus Blood Alcohol Concentration

860037

02/24/1986

Event
SAE International Congress and Exposition
Authors Abstract
Content
This paper compares estimates of the proportion of driver fatalities in which the driver is legally intoxicated from two data sources, accident reports and toxicological reports of blood alcohol concentration (BAC). A total of 1,260 driver fatalities in Texas had BAC test results available for study. Of the legally intoxicated driver fatalities identified by BAC tests, 68 percent of the corresponding accident reports did not show alcohol as a contributing factor in the accident. Descriptive statistics based on BAC results by age and sex of the fatally injured driver, and by time and date of the accident are reported. In addition, the underreporting rate of alcohol involvement is described by age and sex of the driver fatality, and by investigating officer (local police versus DPS). The findings emphasize the need for better quality data on alcohol involvement in traffic accidents.
Meta TagsDetails
DOI
https://doi.org/10.4271/860037
Pages
10
Citation
Pendleton, O., Hatfield, N., and Bremer, R., "Alcohol Involvement in Texas Driver Fatalities: Accident Reports versus Blood Alcohol Concentration," SAE Technical Paper 860037, 1986, https://doi.org/10.4271/860037.
Additional Details
Publisher
Published
Feb 24, 1986
Product Code
860037
Content Type
Technical Paper
Language
English