title: The responsibility of alcohol-impaired road users in fatal road traffic accidents.
abstract: The purpose of this paper was to identify the impact of intoxicated road users upon the degree of responsibility for fatal road traffic accidents.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 373 traffic fatalities was recorded. These cases represented 13.5% of all autopsied cases. Alcohol intoxication was determined in 35.9% of persons involved in road traffic accidents. The degree of responsibility of intoxicated persons was 87.3% of all cases, of non-intoxicated persons 56.7% of all cases. The average determined blood alcohol concentration was 1.91 g/kg.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The degree of responsibility for fatal road traffic accidents was 1.5 times higher among intoxicated road users than among non-intoxicated road users. Alcohol is still the most abused psychoactive substance in Slovakia. The causes of its excessive consumption are the objectives of many larger studies. It is assumed that excessive alcohol consumption can be considerably attributed to its easy availability and lack of awareness and personal responsibility of road users (Tab. 4, Ref. 35).
authors.affiliation: Institute of Forensic Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Comenius University and Health Care Surveillance Authority, Bratislava, Slovakia.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kuruc
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sidlo
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Valent
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mlynar
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Murarikova
mesh_terms: D000063:Accidents, Traffic / Q000401:mortality* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000435:Alcoholic Intoxication / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D018154:Slovakia / Q000453:epidemiology