Cent Eur J Public Health 2007, 15(4):158-162 | DOI: 10.21101/cejph.a3429

Drugs and Fatal Traffic Accidents in the Czech Republic

Viktor Mravčík1, František Vorel2, Tomáš Zábranský3
1 Czech National Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, Prague, Czech Republic
2 Forensic Medicine Department, Hospital, České Budějovice, Czech Republic
3 Center for Addictology, Psychiatric Clinic of the 1st Medical Faculty and Faculty Hospital, Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic

Introduction: The aim of the study was to determine the prevalence of psychotropic drug use in active participants in traffic accidents who died during the accident or shortly after it due to injuries resulting from the accident.

Methods: A special mortality register containing data of all forensic autopsies was analysed. The studied sample consisted of persons who died during traffic accidents and were active participants in those ones (pedestrians, cyclists, or drivers), and were toxicologically tested during the forensic examination.

Results: The sample consisted of 1,213 cases, 1,039 (85.7%) males and 174 (14.3%) females who died in 2003-2005. Ethanol was found in 34.7% of cases, however a significant declining trend over the years was noted. The proportion of positive detections for any psychotropic drug other than alcohol was 7.2%; benzodiazepines were found most frequently (3.6%), followed by cannabis (2.2%), and stimulants (1.7% of the sample). Positive findings of ethanol were significantly more common among males, whereas positive benzodiazepine tests were more frequent in females. Positive cases were significantly younger than negative ones for ethanol, volatile substances, stimulants, and cannabis; in cases of positive medicaments tests, the positive cases were significantly older than the negatives.

Keywords: drugs and alcohol use, forensic medicine, traffic accidents, driving under the influence

Received: April 10, 2007; Revised: June 21, 2007; Accepted: June 21, 2007; Published: December 1, 2007  Show citation

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Mravčík V, Vorel F, Zábranský T. Drugs and Fatal Traffic Accidents in the Czech Republic. Cent Eur J Public Health. 2007;15(4):158-162. doi: 10.21101/cejph.a3429. PubMed PMID: 18251231.
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