[Analysis and evaluation of blood alcohol values found in victims of fatal traffic accidents in the Parma region (1982-1986)].

The Authors examined the relationship between blood alcohol levels and traffic accident incidence in 340 cases which came under the observation of the Institute of Forensic Medicine from 1982 to 1986. Positive blood alcohol (31.2% of cases) were correlated to age, sex, type of vehicle driven, day and hour of the accident and to influence upon behaviour (greater than or equal to 0.50 g%) and to drunkenness (greater than or equal to 1.50 g%). Positive blood alcohol resulted to be correlated to, in the following order, passengers, drivers, pedestrians, motorcyclists and cyclists. The incidence was also related to evening and night hours, and to the days Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Our results, even if not completely superimposable, from a statistical point of view, do permit a comparison between them and those found in the Literature regarding the casuistry of other forensic anatomo-pathologic studies that define the risk factors related to alcohol consumption and traffic accident risk.