12 May Infographic: Alcohol and Drink-Driving
Although the figure for the number of Road Traffic deaths, is stabilising, according to the ‘World Health Organization (WHO) : Report On Road Safety 2015’, there are still 1.25 million deaths per year. One of the main attributes for road traffic deaths worldwide are citizens who drive after a consumption of Alcohol. In high-income countries, 20% of fatally injured drivers have excess alcohol in their blood, whilst the low-middle income countries are seen with figures up to 69% (WHO). The infographic that is shown above illustrates Fourteen countries that have the highest alcohol consumption. It then goes on to investigate how strict each countries drink driving law enforcement is, using the blood alcohol concentration, followed by the Countries death rates which are caused by drink driving.
Using the London South Bank University Alcohol data set, the first Bar Chart at the very top of the infographic identifies the Fourteen Countries with the highest Alcohol Consumption within the year of 2014. It is clear from the Bar Chart, that Thirteen out of the Fourteen Countries are in Europe, with Lithuania being the country with the highest alcohol consumption rate at 15.2. Although the consumption rates for Poland and Russia are still high, it is intriguing to see that these countries do not have the highest alcohol consumption rate out of the Countries listed, Considering that both countries are bigger in size and population, as opposed to the other countries represented in the chart. Smaller countries such as Czech Republic with an Alcohol Consumption of 12.7, are seen with a higher consumption rate, leading to the questioning of drink-driving law enforcements within these countries.
The Infographic then demonstrates drink-driving law enforcements, particularly the Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) limit. The BAC limit is when an individual’s bloodstream is used to determine whether they are legally intoxicated, especially when driving. For example, the infographic addresses that only 34 countries have a drink-driving law, with a BAC of 0.05 g/dl, which should ideally be the legal limit. The Infographic also presents a chart, containing statistics of the maximum legal Blood Alcohol Concentration for the general population and young people within these countries. The chart shows that only Eight out of the Fourteen countries, have a general population legal limit of 0.05 g/dl. The chart illustrates that Croatia, Germany, Lithuania, Slovenia and Slovakia have no BAC limit for young people, meaning there is more of a potential risk for drink-driving.
The last graph of the Infographic represents Road Traffic Deaths which are caused by drink-driving within the top Fourteen Countries. With a percentage of 30, it is apparent that France has the highest death rates linking to drink-driving, whilst Bulgaria has the lowest death rates with 3%. It is with no doubt that the result of each countries drink-driving death rates evidently relies on different components, such as the BAC limit, as well as drink-driving laws as a whole.
