While drunken driving may be on the decline, traffic safety experts remain baffled over how to cope with another alcohol-related hazard: drunken pedestrians .
Pedestrians struck and killed by cars often are extremely drunk. In fact, they are intoxicated more frequently and with higher blood-alcohol levels than drunken drivers who are killed in accidents, various studies have shown. Forty percent of adult pedestrians involved in fatal crashes have a blood-alcohol level of at least 0. 10 which by law in most states signifies intoxication compared to only 25 percent of drivers in deadly accidents, according to recent federal data.
Some types of pedestrian accidents have been declining nationally, especially those involving children, but the number of adult pedestrians who are drunk when killed in traffic has remained relatively steady at 2,500 a year. The total number of pedestrians killed annually in U. S. traffic accidents is at least 7,000 or one of every seven highway deaths.
Pedestrian accidents have not received enough attention in the past, according to Kay Colpitts, who chairs a boards committee on pedestrians. Few methods exist to monitor walking habits, she said, and researchers have been mystified about how to prevent mishaps.
Studies have revealed some of the causes, which range from a lack of adult supervision for many children involved in accidents to long delays in traffic signals that may encourage jaywalking, speakers said at a meeting. The most challenging problem, however, is alcohol. Some researchers suspect that part of the problem, ironically, may be former drunken drivers whose licenses were suspended and who now are walking. Other researchers, emphasizing the larger social problem of alcohol abuse in general, say many drunken pedestrians are poor alcoholics who often face lonely deaths and not only on highways.
26. Which of the following would be the best title for the passage? A. Traffic Safety. B. Drunken Drivers.
C. Drunken Pedestrian Accidents. D. A Severe Highway Safety Problem.
27. Among the causes of walkers accidents, the most serious problem is______.
A. long delays in traffic signals that may make people cross streets without paying attention to traffic rules
B. alcohol
C. a lack of adult keeping eyes on many children involved in accidents
D. former drunken drivers whose licenses are not allowed to use for a time
28. According to recent federal data, drunken drivers in deadly accidents______.
A. are 15 percent less than drunken adult walkers
B. are 2,500 a year
C. are at least 7,000 in US traffic accidents
D. make up one-seventh of highway deaths
29. It can be inferred from the passage that pedestrian accidents have remained relatively high because______.
A. walking accidents have not received enough attention in the past
B. few methods exist to confine walking habits
C. researchers find it difficult to work out ways to prevent unlucky accidents
D. all of the above
30. The passage was most probably written by a specialist in______.
A. town planning B. social history
C. traffic system D. traffic safety
26. C 27. B 28. A 29. D 30. D