The Prevention Institute compiled some statistics about the contribution of alcohol consumption to injuries and fatalities that occur in the context of driving while impaired, as well as other criminal behavior. Drinking is a strong contributory factor in traffic-related deaths and injuries, all types of criminal violence (including child abuse and rape), and suicide. Here's a summary:
Looking at the total environment in which injuries and alcohol use occur reveals how much they are related. "Drinking and driving" is clearly linked to injuries. Consistently, around one-third of all traffic fatalities are attributed to crashes in which at least one of the drivers, or the pedestrian, had a blood-alcohol concentration of .10 or greater. Alcohol is also involved in an estimated 69% of boat-related drownings and a Minnesota study found that 41% of deaths resulting from falls involved alcohol.
Alcohol is also implicated in a large proportion of violent events, including between 50% and 66% of all homicides and serious assaults, in 20 to 36% of suicides, and 37% of trauma cases. Alcohol is also widely associated with rape and battering. In 217 rape cases reported to the Winnipeg, Canada police department between 1966 and 1975, 72.4% were considered alcohol-related.
A study of alcohol availability in a Santa Clara County (California) found that the highest numbers of crimes and requests for police services took place in the same census tracts as the ones with the highest concentration of alcohol outlets.
There is also an insidious connection between advertising, consumption and violence. Billboards, point of sale displays, and television advertisements that portray women as sexually available in conjunction with beer and other types of alcohol encourage men to drink and to sexually abuse women. There are eight times as many men as women among the heaviest drinkers, and young people aged 18 to 29, while they represent only 27% of the population, account for 45% of all adult drinking.
Alcohol is also implicated in a large proportion of violent events, including between 50% and 66% of all homicides and serious assaults, in 20 to 36% of suicides, and 37% of trauma cases. Alcohol is also widely associated with rape and battering. In 217 rape cases reported to the Winnipeg, Canada police department between 1966 and 1975, 72.4% were considered alcohol-related.
A study of alcohol availability in a Santa Clara County (California) found that the highest numbers of crimes and requests for police services took place in the same census tracts as the ones with the highest concentration of alcohol outlets.
There is also an insidious connection between advertising, consumption and violence. Billboards, point of sale displays, and television advertisements that portray women as sexually available in conjunction with beer and other types of alcohol encourage men to drink and to sexually abuse women. There are eight times as many men as women among the heaviest drinkers, and young people aged 18 to 29, while they represent only 27% of the population, account for 45% of all adult drinking.
Yes all those things go hand-in-hand ! IAD
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