Association of main driver-dependent risk factors with the risk of causing a vehicle collision in Spain, 1990-1999.
OBJECTIVE
To assess the strength of association of main driver-dependent risk factors with the risk of causing a collision between vehicles in Spain, from 1990 to 1999.


METHODS
The data for this paired-by-collision, case-control study were obtained from the Spanish Dirección General de Tráfico traffic crash database. The study included all 220284 collisions involving two or more vehicles with four or more wheels, in which only one of the drivers involved committed an infraction. Infractor drivers comprised the case group; noninfractor drivers involved in the same collision were their corresponding paired controls.


RESULTS
All driver-dependent factors were associated with the risk of causing a collision. The highest adjusted odds ratio estimates were obtained for sleepiness (64.35; CI, 45.12-91.79), inappropriate speed (28.33; CI, 26.37-30.44), and driving under the influence of alcohol with a positive breath test (22.32; CI, 19.64-25.37). An increase in the number of years in possession of a driving license showed a protective effect, albeit the strength of the effect decreased as age increased.


CONCLUSIONS
Our results emphasize the urgent need to implement strategies aimed mainly at controlling speeding, sleepiness, and alcohol consumption before driving-the main driver-dependent risk factors for causing a vehicle collision.
Lardelli-Claret
Pablo
P
Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health, University of Granada, Facultad De Farmacia, Campus De Cartuja s/n, 18071 Granada, Spain. lardelli@ugr.es
Luna-Del-Castillo
Juan de Dios
Jde D
Jiménez-Moleón
José Juan
JJ
Rueda-Domínguez
Trinidad
T
García-Martín
Miguel
M
Femia-Marzo
Pedro
P
Bueno-Cavanillas
Aurora
A
D000063:Accidents, Traffic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000428:Alcohol Drinking; D001334:Automobile Driving / Q000523:psychology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D006801:Humans; D011336:Probability; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D013030:Spain / Q000453:epidemiology; D035501:Uncertainty