Hyderabad: One-fourth of night-time vehicle crashes in Hyderabad involved alcohol, a study has found. People in the age group of 35 to 44 years faced the highest risk, it said.
In all, 57.9 per cent of victims were between the ages of 15 and 34. Nearly half of the injuries occurred among drivers of motorised two-wheelers and 20.2 per cent of the patients were pedestrians, the study said.
Data was collected from 3,366 patients — 88 per cent of them men — reporting with alcohol-related injuries at an emergency department in Hyderabad, from September 2013 to February 2014.
The study was conducted jointly by the Johns Hopkins International Injury Research Unit, Department of International Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, USA, and the Indian Institute of Public Health, Hyderabad.
The study, Dr Shailaja Tetali as lead author, is titled ‘Characteristics associated with alcohol consumption among emergency department patients presenting with road traffic injuries in Hyderabad’.
The study said, “Compared to 15 to 24-year-olds, the odds of alcohol consumption was 1.4 times greater among 25 to 34-year-olds and 1.7 times greater among 35 to 44-year-olds.”
It was found that drivers of non-two-wheelers, passengers on two-wheelers, and pedestrians did not have significantly different odds of alcohol-related injuries compared to two-wheeler riders.
Sure death for drunken bikers
Staff in emergency ambulances have stated that 90 per cent of two-wheeler crashes involved riders who were under the influence of alcohal at the time of the accident.
Their drunkenness was ascertained dilated pupils. Analysis of traffic data showed that 25 per cent of accident fatalities 17 per cent of casualties in the city were found to have been caused due to high levels of blood alcohol.
Also, 10 out of 77 fatal injuries, as per latest data, were self-caused, primarily due to consumption of alcohol.
Each month, the Hyderabad traffic police books up to 1,600 cases of drunken driving but these cases are booked only during special drives held only twice or thrice a week.
