Alcohol-intoxicated participants in traffic accidents in the Republic of Croatia in the period 1995-1997
Kozaric-Kovacic, D.; Grubisic-Ilic, M.
Alcoholism 35(1-2): 3-12
1999
ISSN/ISBN: 0002-502X Accession: 010142585
The aim of analysis was to find out the proportion of alcohol-intoxicated participants in traffic accidents in the total number of participants in traffic accidents in the Republic of Croatia and in relation to age, gender, frequency and seriousness of injuries. We used the data from the Register of traffic accidents for the period 1995-1997. The traffic police officers have to fill the questionnaire after the traffic accident has occurred. We used the data related only to the special conditions (alcohol, drugs, medications, health problems and fatigue) and to the consequences of traffic accidents. The study showed that 5.44% participants in traffic accidents were intoxicated with alcohol; there were 71.23% men and 28.77% women. The drivers were the most frequent (96.74%) alcohol-intoxicated participants among them. According to our data, the young people between the age of 18 and 25 were the population at a greater risk. There was a larger number of injured in the group of alcohol-int oxicated participants than in the non-intoxicated category (chi square = 922.50; p<0.01), while there was no difference regarding the seriousness of injuries between the two groups (chi square = 1.19; p>0.01).