A pilot study of alcohol and drug-related traffic accidents and death in two Jamaican parishes, 1991

ABSTRACT

This study is a preliminary effort to document the role of drugs in motor vehicle accidents as it examines the presence of alcohol, marijuana and cocaine in blood samples of thirty-one motor vehicle fatalities. The study identified that males (90.3 percent) and pedestrians (41.9 percent) were killed most often. Evidence of alcohol intake was found in 77.5 percent of the fatalities and 35.5 percent had alcohol levels above the legal acceptable limits. Traces of marijuana were found in 22.5 percent and a combination of alcohol and marijuana in 22.5 percent of the victims (AU)