Determination of Characteristics of Fatally Injured Drivers

Baker, Susan P.; Chen, Li-Hui · 2001 · ROSA P / United States. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

archive: archived pipeline: cataloged verified

Get this paper ↗ (full text — opens at the source; we link to it, we don't host it)

Summary

This study, conducted by the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), aimed to identify driver characteristics that predict the risk of involvement in fatal motor vehicle crashes. The research addressed a gap in existing literature by linking crash circumstances with detailed background and behavioral data, allowing for the isolation of specific risk factors while controlling for demographics. The primary objective was to determine which behaviors and traits most strongly correlate with driver fatalities. The methodology utilized three distinct analytical components using linked federal datasets. First, researchers analyzed 1,115 drivers from the 1993 National Mortality Followback Survey (NMFS) linked with the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS). This component compared drivers killed in single-vehicle crashes or at-fault in multi-vehicle crashes against not-at-fault drivers in multi-vehicle crashes, who served as a control group representative of drivers on the road. Second, NMFS-FARS drivers killed between 10 PM and 3 AM on Friday and Saturday nights were compared with 5,894 drivers from the 1996 National Roadside Survey (NRS), who were stopped at checkpoints during the same hours. Third, NMFS-FARS drivers were compared with respondents from the 1993 National Survey of Drinking and Driving Attitudes and Behavior (NSDDAB). Logistic regression and cross-tabulations were used to quantify risk factors, controlling for variables such as age, gender, race, education, and mileage. The findings consistently identified alcohol consumption and seat belt usage as the strongest predictors of fatal crash involvement. In the NMFS-FARS analysis, drivers who drank and drove weekly or consumed five or more drinks per occasion had nearly three times the risk of being killed in a single-vehicle crash compared to non-drivers; illicit drug users had four times the risk. The roadside survey comparison revealed that drivers with a Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) of 0.10% or higher were 64 times more likely to be fatally injured than those with BACs of 0–0.04%. Additionally, unrestrained drivers were 13 times more likely to die in a crash than those wearing both lap and shoulder belts. The telephone survey analysis indicated that drivers aged 30–64 with a CAGE score indicating alcohol dependence were 4.5 times more likely to be fatally injured. Demographic factors also played a role, with males, Hispanics, and individuals with less than a high school education showing elevated risks, though these were secondary to behavioral factors. The study concludes that drinking practices are the primary determinant of fatal crash risk, significantly outweighing demographic characteristics. The authors emphasize that interventions targeting high-risk drinking behaviors and increasing seat belt compliance, particularly among high-risk demographic groups, are critical for reducing fatalities. The data underscores the necessity of intensified efforts to identify and influence drivers whose behaviors place them at substantial risk of death.

Key finding

Drivers with blood alcohol concentrations of 0.10% or higher are 64 times more likely to be killed in a crash, and unrestrained drivers are 13 times more likely to die compared to those wearing seat belts.

Methodology

mixed_methods

Sample size: 1115

Provenance

The full processing record for this entry. Every stage of this paper's journey through the pipeline is logged — what ran, with which tool and model, how many attempts it took, and when it last completed. Discovered via bulk_ingest_rosap on 2026-05-23 (6 acquisition events logged).

Summary generated by qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant on 2026-06-10; verification: verified.

Topics

Ranked by relevance to this paper. Hover a topic for its definition.

• demographic disparities
• sex gender
• incidence prevalence
• comparative international
• induced exposure
• alcohol

Information type

What kind of knowledge this paper contributes, grouped by family — independent of topic (what it is about) and method (how it was studied).

• Empirical Findings: crash risk outcomes, observational prevalence
• Methodological Resource: dataset resource