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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
Li-Hui Chen, MS, PhD, Center for Injury Research and Policy, Johns Hopkins University, 624 North Broadway, 5th Floor, Baltimore, MD 21205, 410-614-2812, lhchen@jhsph.edu and Susan P Baker, MPH, Center for Injury Research and Policy, Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health, 624 North Broadway, Baltimore, MD 21205.
Purpose
Past studies provided evidence suggesting a relationship between carrying passengers and crash risk for teenage drivers. However, they were unable to control for alcohol usage due to the lack of alcohol information in the population data. Given the significance of alcohol in motor vehicle crashes, it is important to clarify the role of alcohol in the relationship between carrying passengers and fatal crashes for teenaged drivers. The current study therefore addresses the following question: Is the relationship between carrying passengers and fatal crash risk largely due to alcohol?
Methods
Drivers aged 16 killed between 10pm-3am on Friday and Saturday nights [data from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS)] were compared with drivers surveyed in the National Roadside Survey (NRS96). The relation between fatality risk of drivers and presence of passengers were explored by stratified logistic regressions analyses.
Results
The presence of passengers increased the risk of a driver aged 16 being killed in crashes, for both sober drivers and drivers who were positive for alcohol. For sober drivers, compared with drivers of the same age without passengers, the odds ratio of death was 1.46 (95% CI 0.87-2.44) for 16-year-old drivers with at least one passenger. The odds ratio was 41.17 (95% CI 1.89-896.90) for drivers who had been drinking.
Conclusions
Carrying passengers seemed to increase the fatal crash risk of 16-year-old drivers, regardless of their drinking status. However, the risk was much higher for drivers who had been drinking. Further study with larger numbers is needed.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Adolescents, Alcohol
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.