Citation

No Author(s) Listed. Br. Med. J. BMJ 1960; 1(5168): 269-272.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1960, BMJ Publishing Group)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

In June, 1951, the Council of the British Medical Association appointed a special committee to revise and bring up to date the Association's reports on Tests for Druinkenness (1927) and Relation of Alcohol to Road Accidents (1935). The revised report on tests for drunkenness was published in 1954 under the title Recognition of Intoxication, and a second edition appeared in 1958.

The committee has now completed its revision of Relation of Alcohol to Road Accidents. The report examines the evidence on the relation of alcohol to road accidents under two main headings: (1) The effect of alcohol on driving performance or skills resembling driving; and (2) statistical evidence of the proportion of accidents in which it can be established that one or more persons involved had been drinking alcohol prior to the accident.

1. The committee is satisfied that the official returns for accidents caused by drivers who have taken alcohol underestimate very considerably the number of accidents due to this cause.

2. In a high proportion of accidents in which pedestrians have received fatal injuries it has been found that the victim has taken alcohol.

3. Relatively low concentrations of alcohol in the tissues cause a deterioration in driving performance and increase appreciably the likelihood of accident.

4. The existing legislation does not come into effective operation until a very much higher concentration of alcohol in the tissues has been reached, and is unsuccessful as a measure to prevent accidents caused by alcohol.

5. Clinical examination in the absence of biochemical tests is neither sufficiently sensitive nor reliable enough to detect deterioration in driving performance of this degree.

6. A clinical examination is an essential part of the examination of persons suspected of driving vehicles under the influence of alcohol, since it is the only way of detecting physical illness and the presence and extent of any injury.

7. The committee believes that a substantial reduction in the number of accidents caused by alcohol has been achieved where it has been made an offence to drive a motor vehicle when the concentration of alcohol in the tissues is in excess of a certain level.

8. In addition to the conventional methods of taking samples of blood or urine, an apparatus is now available for taking samples of breath from which the concentration of alcohol in the tissues can be rapidly and accurately estimated.

9. The committee considers that a concentration of 50 mg. of alcohol in 100 ml. of blood while driving a motor vehicle is the highest that can be accepted as entirely consistent with the safety of other road users. While there may be circumstances in which individual driving ability will not depreciate significantly by the time this level is reached, the committee is impressed by the rapidity with which deterioration occurs at blood levels in excess of 100 mg./ 100 ml. This is true even in the case of hardened drinkers and experienced drivers. The committee cannot conceive of any circumstances in which it could be considered safe for a person to drive a motor vehicle on the public roads with an amount of alcohol in the blood greater than 150 mg./100 ml.