Intoxicated pedestrians: accident data from South Australia

Abstract

Findings based on routinely-collected South Australian pedestrian accident data are: (i) a disproportionate number of pedestrians with positive blood alcohol concentration (BAC) are injured on Fridays and Saturdays; (ii) some 50% of pedestrian casualties in the high BAC group occur in hours beginning 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, and another 35% occur in the hours beginning 23, 00, 01, 02, 03; (iii) most pedestrian accidents for which the pedestrian had a positive BAC occurred midblock, rather than at intersections, with no form of traffi c control present and with the speed limit being 50 or 60 km/h, and only 14% occurred within 1 km of the centre of Adelaide, the GPO; and (iv) most pedestrians who had a positive BAC were male, and some 71% were in the age range 20 to 49. Although there are limitations in using routine BAC data, these data are nevertheless thought to give helpful information. Routine crash data and cases investigated in depth both indicate that the alcohol levels of many pedestrians killed and injured are very high indeed. It is likely that improved safety of intoxicated pedestrians will come about by making the environment safer for all pedestrians, drunk or sober. The measure that would be expected to have the greatest effect most quickly is a reduced speed limit, especially in locations where traffic is busy and there are many pedestrians.