Reducing alcohol-related car crashes may help economy

By Andrew M. Seaman (Reuters Health) – The large reduction in alcohol-related motor vehicle crashes over the past few decades helped the U.S. economy, according to a new study. Of the $200 million of compounded annual growth to the U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) since 1984 to 1986, about 5 percent is a result of reduction in alcohol-related car crashes, researchers report. Economic gains will continue to accumulate as alcohol-related car crashes continue to become less common, said Ted Miller, a study author from the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation in Silver Spring, Maryland. “We need to hold the course and keep expanding it.” The installation of breath-controlled ignitions or crash avoidance systems may help reduce alcohol-relate car crashes, Miller told Reuters Health by phone.
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