Citation

Trinca GW. Proc. Am. Assoc. Automot. Med. Annu. Conf. 1978; 22(2): 335-344.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1978, Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

In 1972 The Royal Australasian College of Surgeons, recognizing the major role played by alcohol as a cause of serious road crashes in Australia, applied pressure for the introduction of legislation making compulsory the routine blood alcohol estimation on road crash casualties. Legislation to this effect was introduced in South Australia in 1973 followed by Victoria in 1974 and Queensland in 1976. Similar pressure on the Victorian Government led to the introduction of random breath tests in Victoria in 1976. Since 1966, the legal limit for blood alcohol level in Victorian drivers has been 50mg/100ml and 80mg/100ml for the rest of Australia. This paper presents the results of compulsory blood alcohol estimations obtained on all road crash casualties aged 15 years and over who have attended Victorian hospitals for treatment since the collection and analysis of samples began in October, 1974. The blood alcohol concentrations (BAC) of injured road users are compared with those of fatalities and those obtained by breath analysis. Any assessment of the value of and the need for compulsory blood alcohol testing of road crash casualties must be measured against the broad Australian canvas of alcohol use and abuse.