The effects of blood alcohol concentration on time of death for fatal crash victims

Alcohol is associated with increased risk of crash involvement. Recent research indicates that alcohol has a deleterious effect on injury. Alcohol may also affect time of death for fatal crash victims. Data were analyzed from the Fatal Accident Reporting System for years 1982-1988 to investigate the effect of blood alcohol concentration (BAC) levels on time to death and mean time to death for fatally injured drivers. The results show that significantly greater proportions of drivers with high (BAC) levels (0.10 g/dl or greater) die within 30 minutes of their crash compared to drivers with 0.00 g/dl and those with 0.01-0.09 g/dl. High BACs appear to increase the probability of a crash and the probability of sustaining fatal injury and rapid death, given a crash has occurred. These findings coupled with other research could have implications for emergency medical services and hospital arrival times and for impaired driving countermeasure evaluations.