OCR Text |
Show Safety Council Warns Against Drinking, Driving Alcohol and accidents go hand in hand, the Utah Safety Council reminded this week. More than a fourth of the drivers or adult pedestrians killed in traffic had been drinking, drink-ing, a study by the Council has revealed. Further, the Council observed six of every 100 piotorists involved in-volved in fatal accidents were "under the influence of alcohol" j the most serious violation in-' eluded in the general category, "had been drinking". j Drink was a major factor in adult pedestrian deaths, too, as 25 of every 100 pedestrians killed had been drinking, accord-1 ing, acording to reports from 20 states. I Delaware, which has given' special attention to the problem of the drinking driver, whenever possible took blood tests of persons per-sons injured in traffic mishaps. Intoximeter tests were given, if permission was obtained. If injuries in-juries were too severe to permit tests or if drivers refused to take them, police recorded their opinion of the motorist's condition. condi-tion. Results were that 40.6 per cent of all drivers involved in traffic fatalities had been drinking. "But a few drinks never hurt anybody nor his driving," some will say. Tests indicate that isn't , so. F'ifty men and women were! tested before drinking. Then they downed an ounce of whiskey for I every 30 pounds of body weight. JThat means a 150 pound man consumed five drinks, taking from 15 to 30 minutes. After a 45-minute wait, the 35 men and 15 women were retest-ed, retest-ed, with these results. 1. Nearly all suffered loss of visual sharpness. 2. Thirty per cent showed a significant drop in depth perception. per-ception. 3. More than half were unable to judge distances well. 4. More than half were affected adversely by glare. Drinking impairs judgment and reaction time, the tests showed. When quick thinking is vital to survival, the drinking driver is handicapped. While whiskey was used in this test, physicians point out that a 12-ounce bottle of beer contains about the same amount of alcohol al-cohol as an ounce of whiskey. "If we're to pull down the national na-tional traffic death toll, we have to stop motorists from driving after drinking," the Council said. |