title: Prevalence of blood alcohol in fatal traffic crashes in Shanghai.
abstract: The objective of this project was to investigate the incidence of alcohol consumption in fatal traffic deaths in Shanghai, one of the largest cities in China. A study was conducted on 803 individuals killed in road accidents during the period 2009-2011, in terms of alcohol-positive rate, mean blood alcohol content (BAC), gender, age, vehicle type, pedestrian alcohol problem, single-vehicle vs multiple-vehicle crashes, and time of day. It was found that 28.9% of the drivers involved had a BAC≥0.20mg/mL (limit of civil offense) and 21.8% had a BAC≥0.80mg/mL (limit of criminal offense). The mean BAC of alcohol-positive drivers (with a BAC≥0.20mg/mL) was 1.51mg/mL. The vast majority of the drivers involved were males. With regards to age, the largest group was of drivers aged between 40 and 49 years group in both alcohol-negative cases (26.8%) and alcohol-positive cases (26.2%). Motorcycles were most likely to be involved, representing 34.4% of alcohol-negative crashes and 51.6% of alcohol-positive crashes. Very high BACs were common among alcohol-positive pedestrians, yet all female pedestrians were alcohol-negative. Single-vehicle crashes were over-represented in alcohol-positive cases. Alcohol-negative crashes and alcohol-positive crashes most often happened during the time period of 17:00-18:59 and 19:00-20:59, respectively.
authors.affiliation: Department of Forensic Medicine (Center of Forensic Science), School of Basic Medical Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, PR China.
authors.forename: Yulan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Rao
authors.forename: Ziqin
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Yurong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Yonghong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ye
authors.forename: Runsheng
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Chen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.forename: Rong
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Yingying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Jiang
mesh_terms: D000063:Accidents, Traffic / Q000401:mortality*; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002492:Central Nervous System Depressants / Q000097:blood*; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D000431:Ethanol / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D053593:Forensic Toxicology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018986:Motor Vehicles / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D017678:Sex Distribution; D013995:Time; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D002492:Central Nervous System Depressants; D000431:Ethanol