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Alcohol use among injured sets of drivers and passengers
C A Soderstrom1, P C Dischinger, T J Kerns
1Department of Surgery, University of Maryland Medical Center, Baltimore 21201-1595, USA.
Abstract:
Crash report and blood alcohol concentration (BAC) data were linked for 109 injured driver/passenger pairs admitted to a Level I trauma center. Among those occupants, 47 drivers (43%) (mean BAC, 147 mg/dl) and 45 passengers (41%) (mean BAC, 127 mg/dl) were BAC+. No occupant was BAC+ in 57 crashes (52%); both were BAC+ in 40 (37%); and only one was BAC+ in 12 (11%). When both occupants were BAC+, the driver had the higher BAC in 68% of cases, and when one was BAC+, it was the driver 58% of the time. In 6 additional alcohol-related crashes with one driver and two passengers, the "wrong" occupant was driving on 5 occasions. Hence, in the 58 crashes involving BAC+ occupants, the least appropriate occupant was driving 67% of the time.