Alcohol and pedestrians.

Bedford et al 1 have recently added to the strong existing evidence that a substantial part of the pedestrian accident problem arises from intoxicated pedestrians. We have recently reviewed 2 this, and would like to add three points. The first is that among pedestrian fatalities having a positive BAC (blood alcohol concentration), a high proportion have a very high BAC indeed (over, say, .150). This is true for the data of Bedford et al and in many other datasets, such as the earlier Irish series reported by Walsh et al 3 (A difference between the two series is that the proportion with zero BAC is much higher in the more recent series.) There are implications for who should be targeted in countermeasures. Many of those with such high BACs have a history of alcohol abuse and/or drug abuse and/or suicide attempts.