Every 6th accident victim is drunk: PGI study
Every sixth road accident victim is drunk. A study conducted by the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh has found that 15% of the road accident victims were drunk.
Every sixth road accident victim is drunk. A study conducted by the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh has found that 15% of the road accident victims were drunk.
These facts have been revealed in the study titled "Sociodemographic profile of road traffic accident victims admitted at emergency surgical OPD of a tertiary care hospital".The research was carried on 100 persons admitted to the emergency trauma OPD of PGIMER and the report has been published in the official journal of PGIMER.
The report says that 15% victims "met with accidents under the influence of liquor"The study was conducted by Amita Aggarwal and Sukh-pal Kaur from National Institute of Nursing Edu-cation, PGIMER and Dr Mandeep Singh Dhillon, head, orthopaedics department.The study also mentioned "consumption of alcohol increased the probability of accidents, as it impairs judgment and reflexes". Besides, the study also found that a total of 26% people had history of drinking alcohol.The study came up with another alarming fact that around 59% persons injured in road accidents were in age group of 20 to 40 years. Interestingly, 84% of the total injured were males.
According to experts, at present road traffic injuries account for 2.1% of global mortality and of these, 85% deaths occur in developing countries. It is expected that by 2020, accidents will rank third in the global burden of diseases.
"There is a need to plan strategies to decrease risk of accidents and inculcate healthy driving habits," the study concluded.