Young women are increasing their drinking-and-driving

by William Atkins

Sunday, 03 June 2007

According to a 2007 study from the University of California’s Irvine Medical Center, between the years of 1995 and 2004, women showed large increases in alcohol-related fatal automobile crashes

U.S. physicians Craig Anderson, Federico Vaca, and Virginia Tsai, from the Center for Trauma and Injury Prevention Research, a part of the UC Irvine Medical Center, showed that the trend in risky behavior with women and driving is trending upward.

Risky behavior is any behavior that increases one’s chance of being involved in an automobile accident. Examples of common risky behaviors while driving include drinking, not wearing a seat belt, using a cell phone, and illegal driving practices (such as speeding).

Data was reviewed from information collected by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration between 1995 and 2004 within its Fatal Analysis Reporting System (FARS).

Young women (between the ages of 16 and 24 years) showed an 1.3% increase in alcohol-related fatal crashes and young men showed at 1.4% increase. In all, about 139,000 young people in this age group were killed during this ten-year period.

In addition, 17.9% of young men did not use seatbelts, however more men are taking up the habit of wearing seatbelts (9.2%) than are women (7.5%).

Automobile crashes are the leading cause of death for adolescents and young adults. The researchers state that the reason why these age groups are so at risk from death in automobile crashes is due primarily to the use of alcohol while driving and the lack of use of seatbelts while driving.

The article by Virginia Tsai, Craig Anderson, and Federico Vaca, entitled “Trends in Young Female Drivers in Alcohol-related Fatal Crashes over Ten Years, 1995–2004” appears in the journal Academic Emergency Medicine [2007 14 (5 Supplement 1): S68].

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