Facts on Alcohol Related Deaths
Facts and statistics show alcohol and some fatalities are intertwined.
Almost half of all traffic fatalities are alcohol related.
20 percent of alcohol-related traffic deaths involve blood alcohol concentration levels below .10 percent.
In 1991, a subway motorman was drinking just before his shift and derailed a train carrying hundreds of passengers, kill five and injuring more than two hundred.
If an alcoholic suddenly withdraws from alcohol, he or she may suffer delirium tremens. D.T.s sometimes end in death.
Many people who apparently die from overdoses of sleeping pills (barbiturates), actually die from a combination of alcohol and the medication.
One quarter of all emergency room admissions, one-third of all suicides, and more than half of all homicides and incidents of domestic violence are alcohol related.
Between 48 and 64 percent of people who die in fires have blood alcohol levels indicating intoxication.
Alcohol is abused by some 14 million Americans and contributes to the deaths of 100,000 each year.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 65 percent of fatal drunk-driving deaths involve drivers whose blood alcohol concentration (BAC) is .15 or higher.
The risk of hemorrhagic stroke is three times higher among heavy drinkers.
Very large amounts of alcohol (such as a quart if drunk in five to thirty minutes) may occasionally cause death by anesthetizing the brain center that controls breathing.
About 20 percent of those people who commit suicide are alcohol abusers, according to the National Mental Health Association.
About 20 percent of suicide victims are alcoholics.
One thousand people die from alcohol overdoses each year. Many of them are young people who drank fast to show off for their friends.
Heavy drinking contributes to illness in each of the top three causes of death—heart disease, cancer and stroke.