In New York state, 44% of pedestrian fatalities involve alcohol or drug use, suggests a retrospective analysis published in an online journal. injury prevention.
Pedestrian injuries are the seventh leading cause of injury-related deaths in New York, USA. There are approximately 15,000 pedestrian injuries each year, 3,000 of which require hospitalization.
While most public safety campaigns focus on drunk driving, pedestrian drug use and impairment is a relatively neglected issue.
The researchers analyzed data from the Fatal Accident Analysis and Reporting System, a national database that covers all fatal motor vehicle crashes on public roads. This includes deaths occurring within 30 days of the accident and alcohol and drug test results reported as part of the post-mortem examination.
During the three-year study period from 2018 to 2020, New York State recorded 771 pedestrian fatalities due to vehicle collisions. Of the pedestrians killed, 338 (44%) had documented drug use, defined as the presence of alcohol, drugs, or both.
Almost one in five deaths (18%) involved drugs alone, and 12% involved both alcohol and drugs. Alcohol use (defined as a blood alcohol concentration of 0.01% or higher) was recorded in 14% of pedestrian fatalities.
“Concomitant use of alcohol and drugs is of particular concern because polysubstance use is associated with more severe cognitive and neurocognitive impairments compared with single-drug use,” researchers from the New York State Department of Health’s Office of Occupational Health and Injury Prevention and Columbia University wrote.
They say further research is needed to better understand the role of polysubstance use in pedestrian injuries and fatalities.
The highest number of deaths were among men (63%) and people over 65 years old (34%).
Hispanic men had the highest rate of drug-related deaths (58%). However, the majority of pedestrians (57%) did not have their race and ethnicity recorded, which limits the interpretation of this finding.
The study found that drug-related deaths were most likely to occur between 6pm and 6am. Overall, the highest number of pedestrian fatalities occurred on Saturday evening.
Pedestrians who were drugged were more likely to be on the road rather than on a crosswalk when they were struck by a vehicle.
Based on their findings, the researchers suggest that drug use may contribute to risky crossing behavior, and that reduced visibility at night may give drivers insufficient time to react and avoid a collision.
A limitation of this study is that the analysis examined only fatal cases, and the results cannot necessarily be extrapolated to nonfatal injuries. Additionally, researchers coded individuals as negative for alcohol or drugs when tests were not performed or results were unavailable, which may underestimate the true prevalence of drug use.
Researchers note that the presence of alcohol or drugs does not necessarily mean that impairment was the sole cause of death, or that it contributed directly to the accident.
Nevertheless, the researchers say that impairments such as impaired decision-making or walking may have played a role in the sequence of events that led to the fatal motor vehicle crash. They call for strategies that promote safe drinking practices and encourage people who may be impaired by alcohol or drugs to return home safely.
sauce:
Reference magazines:
Guzman, J. others. (2026). Drug use among fatally injured pedestrians in New York State, USA: A retrospective analysis. injury prevention. DOI: 10.1136/ip-2025-045980. https://injuryprevention.bmj.com/content/early/2026/07/02/ip-2025-045980
