A Study of Blood Alcohol Level among Cases of Traffic Accidents in the Health Service Region 3, Years 2014-2016

Abstract

The objective of this study was to analyze the blood alcohol levels among the cases of traffic accidents in order to provide basic information regarding the incidence of traffic actident and the associa-tion with alcohol consumption. It was conducted as a retrospective study by collecting blood samples from the cases of traffic accidents admitted to hospitals in the health service region 3 which include Nakhon Sawan, Phichit, Kamphaeng Phet, Uthai Thani and Chainat provinces. Data were collected during the period from January 2014 to December 2016. It was found that there were altogether 972 cases identidied. Majority of them were male; and 57.82% of the cases had blood alcohol level over 50 mg%, which exceeded the legal limit to drive vehicles. High proportion of the accident cases were 31-45 year olds (29.32%), and 44.03% were employees. Majority of accidents (26.65%) occurred during 16:00-19:59 p.m. and 25.60% at 20:00 to 23:59 pm. The vehicles involved in the accidents were motorcycles (55.53%) and cars (30.86%); and 81.48% of the cases were driver. Motorcycle accidents were mostly observed during 20:00 - 23:59 p.m. (15.64%). Analysis of the monthly trends among the accidents that happened duirng January 2557 to December 2559 revealed that April had highest incidents, followed by December (4.53% and 3.57 %, respectively) which coincided with holiday seasons of the country. Data from this study indicate that enforcement of the law to prohibit driving under the influence of alcohol is necessary.