The relationship of different socioeconomic variables and alcohol consumption with nighttime fatal traffic crashes in Spain: 1978-1993

This paper identifies the variables associated with alcohol-related fatal t raffic crashes (AFTC) in Spain. In addition, and for the first time in this country, these variables are used to describe the trend in AFTC, and to st udy the relationship between AFTC and alcohol consumption over the period 1 976-1993. To this end, official data were obtained from the Traffic Departm ent (Direccion General de Trafico), the National Statistics Institute (Inst ituto Nacional de Estadistica), and from international publications on tren ds in alcohol consumption. Nighttime fatal crashes (NFC) and male-driver si ngle-vehicle nighttime fatal crashes (MNFC) were strongly associated with A FTC rates in Spain. A further finding was the decrease in NFC and MNFC rate s during the period 1978-1993, though this decrease proved of a lower magni tude than that observed for daytime crashes. No relationship was observed b etween alcohol consumption at the population level and NFC or MNFC rates. T he fatal crash rate, particularly the daytime rate, showed a rise with weal th level, as measured by gross domestic product and national private consum ption, and an inverse relationship with the unemployment rate. The relation ship between the fatal crash rate and economic variables was due, in most p art, to changes in vehicle-km travelled.