Blood alcohol and road trauma survey

Since April 8, 1974, Victorian legislation has required that blood samples be taken from all persons aged 15 years or over after a road traffic crash. A survey was carried out of 474 such persons from June 10 until September 12, 1974. Of these, blood was taken from 350, and estimates of blood alcohol concentration were obtained from 271 samples. Sixty-five samples of the 271 (24%) gave positive results for alcohol and in about two-thirds of these the levels were higher than the legal limit of 0-05 g/100 ml. Over half of the subjects with positive results for blood alcohol concentration were under 30 years of age, 80% were males, and half were car drivers. This contrasted with the "alcohol-negative" subjects, who were older, and about half of whom were males. About 60% of both groups received minor injuries, and about 20% were admitted to hsopital. Research is continuing to define drinking habits and other social characteristics of these groups.