The role of alcohol in Thailand motorcycle crashes

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Abstract

In order to identify motorcycle accident cause factors and countermeasures in Thailand, a large prospective study was undertaken. Researchers conducted on-scene, in-depth investigation and reconstruction of 969 collisions involving 1082 motorcycle riders. Accidents were randomly sampled and included all levels of injury severity. Alcohol proved to be the most outstanding cause factor, with 393 drinking riders in crashes. Alcohol accidents were distinctly different from non-alcohol crashes. Alcohol accidents were more frequent on weekends and particularly at night, usually when the rider was on his way home. Drinking riders were more likely to lose control of the motorcycle, usually by running off the road. They were more likely to be in a single vehicle accident, to violate traffic control signals, and to be in non-intersection collisions. Males were far more likely to drink and ride than females. Drinking riders were far more likely to be inattentive to the driving task just before they crashed, and to be the primary or sole cause of the accident. One-fourth of all riders did not go to the hospital, and another 42% needed only treatment in the emergency room. Drinking riders were more likely to be hospitalized and far more likely to be killed. The higher hospitalization and fatality rates of drinking riders resulted from the kinds of accidents in which they were involved, not from the minimal differences in speeds and helmet use. Problems with balance and coordination were about equally rare among drinking and non-drinking riders. Inattention was a far greater contributing factor.

Introduction

Previous studies have identified many features common to alcohol-involved motorcycle accidents (Williams and Hoffmann, 1979, Ouellet et al., 1987, Peek-Asa and Kraus, 1996; Haworth, 1997; Turner and Georggi, 2001, Kim and Boski, 2001). These features include higher proportions of night and weekend crashes, single vehicle crashes, running off the road, and speeding. In addition, these studies report that drinking riders were less likely to wear a helmet, less likely to be licensed, and more likely to be hospitalized or killed.

In their 1996 study of alcohol use and motorcycle accidents based on hospital admissions, autopsy and police reports, Peek-Asa and Kraus (1996) remarked that, “the ideal population for this investigation would include all motorcycle riders in crashes, regardless of injury severity.” The Thailand motorcycle accident study reported here comes close to an ideal population because its relatively random sampling includes injuries at all levels of severity. In addition, the use of engineers trained specifically in motorcycle accident investigation and reconstruction to conduct on-scene data collection and subsequent analysis assures an unusually high level of accuracy in identifying accident events and cause factors.

The Thailand study is a prospective, on-scene, in-depth investigation and analysis of 1082 accident-involved motorcycles. It was undertaken in order to identify motorcycle accident cause factors in Thailand and then develop appropriate countermeasures. Alcohol unexpectedly turned out to be the most outstanding contributing factor. The objectives of this report of findings regarding alcohol were: (1) to identify the general characteristics of alcohol-involved motorcycle accidents by comparing them to the non-alcohol accidents, (2) to evaluate how alcohol contributes to accident causation, based on the accident reconstruction and causation analysis of these on-scene, in-depth investigations, and (3) to suggest countermeasures to reduce motorcycle accidents. Kasantikul, 2002a, Kasantikul, 2002b has summarized the broad findings of the Thailand study in two ≥300 page reports.

Only about one-third of the riders could be tested quantitatively for blood alcohol content (BAC). Non-tested riders were subjectively evaluated for alcohol involvement by the accident investigators based on a face-to-face interview immediately after the crash. In order to maximize the number of cases considered for statistical comparisons in this report, riders are simply divided into two categories: “had been drinking” or “had not been drinking.” This distinction was based on the best information available: either quantitative BAC testing (whenever possible) or the subjective judgment made by the investigator (if quantitative testing could not be done). On most of the measures reported here, riders whose BAC was tested did not differ significantly from those who were not tested.

Section snippets

Accident investigation

The crash research was conducted by Thai research teams who received an intensive, 12-week training course that included motorcycle accident investigation methodology, rider injury mechanisms, human factors, motorcycle design, and dynamics and motorcycle accident reconstruction. This was followed by periodic one-on-one training, and continuous monitoring and feedback throughout the project. All on-scene investigators were university graduates, primarily in engineering.

Investigation teams

Results

Because only about one-third of riders were actually tested for BAC, a preliminary analysis was done to compare riders who were tested to non-tested riders on each variable reported here. That is, drinking-tested (HBD-T) riders were compared to drinking-non-tested (HBD-NT) riders, while non-drinking tested (ND-T) riders were compared to non-drinking-non-tested (ND-NT) riders. On the majority of variables, tested riders did not differ significantly from non-tested riders. Whenever the

Discussion

Alcohol-involved riders were their own worst enemy. They were the primary cause factor in three-fourths of their accidents, and the only cause factor in one-third. Alcohol contributed to causing the accident in nearly 90% of the cases in which the rider had been drinking. Attention failures appear to be a major reason behind this culpability. Over half (54%) of the drinking riders appeared to be inattentive to the driving task before the crash. Evidence of inattention was often evident in

Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge Honda Motor Co. Ltd., Japan, Asian Honda Co. Ltd., Thailand and AP Honda Co. Ltd., Thailand, for their support of the Thailand Motorcycle Accident Research project, and Professor Hugh H. Hurt Jr. of the Head Protection Research Laboratory for his review and helpful comments.

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Present address: Dynamic Research Inc. Torrance, California, USA.

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