Drink walkers do it because their mates think it’s okay: QUT study

Friends may be the key to stopping their mates drink walking, a risky behaviour that kills on average two Australians every week, a QUT study has found.

Researcher Dr Ioni Lewis, from QUT's Centre for Accident Research & Road Safety - Queensland (CARRS-Q), said in a survey of young people aged 17 to 25, friends were the strongest influence on their intentions to drink walk.

"Drink walking, or walking while intoxicated in a public place, is linked to increased risk of injury and fatality," Dr Lewis said.

In a survey, published in Transportation Research, more than 50 per cent of participants said they had walked while intoxicated in the previous six months together with evidence that some young people intended to drink walk in the future.

"The study found that the risks associated with drink walking were seen to be less dangerous than drink driving, however, research shows that in Australia on average 100 alcohol-affected pedestrians are killed each year," Dr Lewis said.

"That equates to more than 5 per cent of all road crash fatalities."

Dr Lewis said the study looked at friends, parents and peers and found friends could significantly influence a young person's decision to drink walk.

Drinking and walking can be a deadly combination for pedestrians

More than one-third of the pedestrians killed in 2011 had blood alcohol levels above the legal limit for driving, according to government data. This shows that anti-drunk driving campaigns may not be doing enough to educate people about the dangers of other drunk behaviors, officials said.

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Just as drinking and driving can be deadly, so can drinking and walking. Over a third of the pedestrians killed in 2011 had blood alcohol levels above the legal limit for driving, according to government data released Monday.

Thirty-five percent of those killed, or 1,547 pedestrians, had blood alcohol content levels of .08 or higher, the legal limit for driving, according to data reported to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration by state highway departments.

Among the 625 pedestrians aged 25- to 34-years-old who were killed, half were alcohol impaired. Just under half the pedestrians killed who were in their early 20s and their mid-30s to mid-50s were also impaired. Only among pedestrians age 55 or older or younger than age 20 was the share of those killed a third or less.

By comparison, 13 percent of drivers involved in crashes in which pedestrians were killed were over the .08 limit.

Overall, about a third of traffic fatalities in 2011 - 31 percent, or 9,878 deaths - were attributable to crashes involving a driver with a BAC of .08 or higher.