Blood alcohol concentration impact on the traffic accident rates with fatal outcome

Abstract

Alcohol consumption is widespread, and alcohol addiction is among the top three most common diseases. It causes behavioral problems, perception disturbances and movement disorders associated with traffic traumatism. This review article was undertaken to describe the aforementioned relationship. Serbia's lawmakers reduced the level of legally allowable blood alcohol concentration to 0.3‰. Concentration from 0.5 to 0.7‰ increases the risk of involvement in traffic accidents with fatal outcome 4 to 10 times compared to those without the influence of alcohol. Most participants in fatal traffic accidents are pedestrians and drivers. The main feature of fatal traffic accidents is the participation of young male drivers intoxicated during weekend nightlife in the late evening and early morning. The dominant causes of death are craniocerebral injuries. Traffic accident is one of the causes of significant human casualties in the most productive life age for the society. Future research would show if the reduction of legally allowed blood alcohol concentration in Serbia provided satisfactory response and should it be necessary to impose more stringent procedures for intoxicated drivers.