Citation

Mengert P, Susman ED, DiSario R. J. Saf. Res. 1993; 24(2): 123.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1993, U.S. National Safety Council, Publisher Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/0022-4375(93)90006-9

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

A previous study reported that in a data set of recreational boating fatalities 30% of the victims had blood alcohol concentrations above .10% by volume. These data alone did not permit estimation of increased risk of fatality due to intoxication because the prevalence of intoxication among recreational boat operators was unknown. The current study involved interviewing and breath testing recreational boat operators at several boat ramps and marinas in California in order to obtain the 'exposure' data needed to estimate the increased risk of fatality associated with intoxication. Combining the data from the exposure sample and the fatality data from the previous study enabled computation of a relative risk estimate. The best estimate of relative risk resulting from the research is 10.65, that is, boat operators with a blood alcohol concentration above .10% are estimated to be 10.65 times as likely to be killed in a boating accident than boat operators with zero blood alcohol concentration. A 95% lower confidence bound on the estimate is 4.74. Several possible sources of bias and their effects on the relative risk estimate are considered.

Keywords: Drowning; Drowning Prevention; Water Safety