WVA: Study: Alcohol-related walker, bike deaths slow to drop

The Register-Herald

By Sarah Plummer, Register-Herald Reporter

April 18, 2017

National campaigns remain focused on reducing drunken driving, leaving the number of pedestrians and bicyclists killed when alcohol is involved to decline at much slower rates, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

A report released earlier this month states more than one-third of pedestrians and one-fifth of bicyclists killed in the United States in crashes in 2014 were impaired by alcohol.

The study focuses on pedestrian and bicycle fatalities for those 16 and older between 1982 and 2014 as reported through federal databases.

The study found that the percentage of fatally injured pedestrians and bicyclists 16 and older who were impaired has fallen over the decades, but not as dramatically as the percentage of impaired drivers.

“Education and enforcement campaigns aimed at reducing impaired driving may give people the erroneous impression that walking or riding a bike is a safe alternative,” said Senior Research Scientist Angela Eichelberger, the study’s lead author. “The public needs to be better informed about the dangers of alcohol impairment for anybody on the road.”

Most of the decline among fatally injured pedestrians was in the 1980s and early 1990s, while among bicyclists the proportion has fluctuated. An earlier Insurance Institute for Highway Safety study that looked at pedestrian and bicyclist fatalities from 1992 to 2011 found that the proportion impaired by alcohol barely changed in those years.

Crashes involving pedestrians or bicyclists are more likely to result in death or serious injury when the pedestrians or bicyclists have been drinking, according to the nonprofit founded by auto insurers in 1959.

The press release states alcohol impairment contributes to poor decision-making, which can lead to dangerous pedestrian behavior — for example, crossing a street at a dangerous time or location. Alcohol also degrades psychomotor skills, which are important for riding a bike.

The percentage of fatally injured pedestrians with blood alcohol concentrations of 0.08 percent or higher fell from 45 percent in 1982 to 35 percent in 2014. The percentage for bicyclists fell from 28 percent to 21 percent. In contrast, the percentage for passenger vehicle drivers declined from 51 percent to 32 percent.