The Health Promotion Administration yesterday cautioned the public against drunk driving, which killed an average of one person every two days last year.
“According to statistics compiled by the Ministry of the Interior, between 2012 and last year, drunk driving fatalities peaked during January and February, the time of year companies hold year-end banquets,” Health Promotion Administration Director-General Chiou Shu-ti (邱淑媞) said at a press conference in Taipei yesterday morning.
Chiou said a total of 115,253 drunk-driving cases were reported last year, resulting in 169 deaths, meaning that, on average, every two days one person died in an alcohol-related car accident.
In addition to endangering the lives of others, consumption of alcohol has been associated with health problems, including high blood pressure, liver cirrhosis, strokes and breast, stomach, esophageal and rectal cancers, Chiou said.
“Alcohol intake is proportional to the risk of developing health issues. For example, people who drink the equivalent of 25g, 50g and 100g of pure alcohol per day are 2.9, 7.1 and 26.5 times more likely to develop liver cirrhosis than their non-drinking counterparts,” Chiou said.
WHO estimates attribute the harmful use of alcohol to about 3.3 million premature deaths worldwide per year, accounting for 5.9 percent of total overall deaths, Chiou said.
“More alarming was that a survey conducted by the administration in 2013 which showed that about 60 percent of respondents aged 18 and older have consumed alcohol and 20 percent of them have been drunk,” she said.
Chiou urged businesses to adopt three measures to combat drunk driving after year-end parties: Ask all employees who have consumed alcohol take public transportation home, cooperate with taxi firms to offer a ride home and assign two people at each table to be the designated drivers for less sober colleagues.
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