[The alcoholized pedestrian as victim of fatal traffic accidents (author's transl)].

The following results were obtained in an analysis of the road accidents which occurred in Vienna and its environs over the past ten years with a fatal outcome for the involved pedestrians: 39.3% of the pedestrains who died in an accident had a blood alcohol concentration of at least 0.8%, the average amounting to 2.15%. As many as 60.2% of the male victims were alcoholized, whereas only 7.6% of the women were alcoholized. The female victims were mostly elderly, 86% being older than 60 years, whereas many of the male victims were middle-aged. These middle-aged male pedestrians were frequently drunk; among the men aged between 40 and 49 the rate of alcoholization soared to 88%. The peak time of fatal traffic accidents involving alcoholized pedestrians lies in the hours before midnight. The number of pensioners among the sober victims is raised in comparison with the population rate, whilst an unexpectedly high percentage of unskilled workers found in the alcoholized group. In 7.6% of the alcoholized victime the autopsy revealed cirrhosis of the liver; 27.1% had fatty degeneration of the liver. Nearly as many female pedestrians met with a fatal road accident as males within the city boundaries. Accordingly, the percentage of alcoholized victims in the city (31.7%) is low compared with the rural areas, where about 60% of the victims had a blood alcohol concentration of at least 0.8%.