Drinking, walking, prove to be deadly
Atlanta (AP) 9/24/93

Friends shouldn't let friends walk drunk, either: More than a third of the pedestrians killed by cars last year had had too much to drink.

"This is a bigger problem than we had thought previously, " said Jim Hedlund of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. "Most of our programs are aimed at drivers. We have not really addressed the drinking-and-walking issue.“

Thirty-six percent of the 4,770 pedestrians over age 14 who were killed last year had BACs of 0.10, above the legal limit had they been behind the wheel. Seven percent had consumed smaller amounts of alcohol.

Of those who had been drinking, more than half had BACs greater than 0.20.

The figures were compiled by National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and reported Thursday by the CDC.