Study Claims Vehicular Deaths Caused by Alcohol Under-Reported
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Comstock/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — Although the dangers of drinking and driving are well documented, the reporting of deaths directly due to alcohol are not, according to researchers from the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.
Records from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Fatality Analysis Reporting System reveal that alcohol was listed as a contributing cause of fatal car crashes on just over 3 percent of death certificates from 1999 to 2009.
However, the NIAAA believes that drunk driving is responsible for many more deaths than are being reported, especially when highway data reveals that 21 percent of those killed in vehicular accidents were considered legally drunk.
Part of the reason for this under-reporting, according to the researchers, is that the test results for alcohol take far longer than the three-to-five day period when a death certificate is normally filed.
Currently, only about half of the states make it mandatory for drivers killed in car accidents to have their blood-alcohol tested and overall, 70 percent of these drivers get tested.
As a result, many death certificates don’t include alcohol as the cause of death.
NIAAA study leader Ralph Hingson says that getting a better handle on pertinent information regarding alcohol and fatal car crashes will help in the implementation of policies to reduce these deaths.
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