Ethanol-related death in Ga-Rankuwa road-users, South Africa: A five-year analysis

Ethanol and road traffic fatalities are a public health concern. The purpose of this study was to examine blood alcohol concentrations in different road-users in the jurisdiction of Ga-Rankuwa, South Africa according to epidemiological variables. A retrospective descriptive study involving 672 road-users over 5 years was done. Drivers presented the largest proportion of victims with positive blood alcohol concentrations, followed by pedestrians and motorcyclists with a great proportion of road-users showing levels above 0.05 g/100 ml. The majority of victims were adult males. Among the female victims, drivers and pedestrians had relatively high blood alcohol concentrations. The majority of fatalities occurred at night, during weekends, and in the spring with August being the month with the most fatalities. The most common injuries were external injuries and injury to the head and chest. Cause of death, irrespective of blood alcohol concentrations, was multiple injuries. The results showed that ethanol was associated with road traffic fatalities in Ga-Rankuwa.