[Severity of injury of alcohol intoxicated pedestrians in street traffic].

The evaluation of 251 autopsy cases of pedestrians who suffered fatal accidents in road traffic documents that the influence of alcohol entails an additional risk of injury for pedestrians in motor car accidents. In particular, severe trauma to the head, thorax and abdomen occur, whilst injuries to the pelvis and limbs are generally not more serious than in sober pedestrians. In the classical collision constellation of the pedestrian at the front end of cars, the upper part of the body is evidently especially endangered in the further movement phase. This phenomenon might be connected above all with the impairment of the voluntary reaction capacity due to alcohol during the sequence of evidents in the accident.