Drinking and driving in Singapore, 1987 to 1989.
Between 1987 and 1989 there were approximately 5,000 cases of fatal and injury-sustained road traffic accidents, of which 2.3-3.0% were alcohol related (blood alcohol levels greater than the legal limit of 80 mg% ethanol). The offenders of alcohol-related accidents are mostly Chinese (> 79%), male (> 98%), and more often 30-40 years old. The majority of the alcohol-related accidents (> 74%) took place between 8 P.M. and 4 A.M. in fine weather and light traffic. Rear-end, head-on, and side-on collisions comprised > 60% of all the alcohol-related accidents, and losing control of vehicles approximately 30%. Drunken driving cases for the same period that were not accidents showed a number of characteristics similar to those for accidents. In Singapore, motorcycle riders and pedestrians are more prone to road fatality than other road-user groups. International comparisons of road fatalities per 100,000 population gave Singapore one of the lowest accident rates (8.1-8.4) as compared with countries such as Australia, the United Kingdom, the United States, New Zealand, Canada, and Japan.
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Institute of Science and Forensic Medicine, Singapore.
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Bloodworth
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Tan-Siew
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D000063:Accidents, Traffic / Q000401:mortality / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000328:Adult; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000453:epidemiology*; D000435:Alcoholic Intoxication / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D001334:Automobile Driving / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D001944:Breath Tests; D000431:Ethanol / Q000097:blood; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009049:Motorcycles; D012846:Singapore / Q000453:epidemiology; D015813:Substance Abuse Detection
D000431:Ethanol