While drunken driving may be on the decline, traffic safety experts remain puzzled over how to deal with another alcohol related danger: drunken pedestrians(行人).
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 many states signifies intoxication(醉酒), 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 accidents resulting in death.
“We’re dealing here, we think, with a very severe drinking problem that leads to a severe highway safety problem,” said Richard Bloomberg, president of Dunlap and Associates Inc, in Norwalk, Coon.
Bloomberg, whose consulting company found a very high rate of alcohol involvement in a controlled study of pedestrian accidents in New Orleans, was among several researchers who spoke on the topic at the annual meeting of the Research council’s Transportation Research Board(TRB) in Washington in January.
Pedestrian accidents have not received enough attention in the past, according to Kay Culprits, who chairs the board’s committee on pedestrians. Few methods exist to monitor walking habits, she said, and researchers have been confused about how to prevent disasters.
56. 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.
57. 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
58. According to recent federal data, drunken drivers with an over 0.10 blood alcohol level in deadly accidents______ .
A. make up one seventh of highway accidents
B. are 2,500 a year
C. are at least 7,000 in US traffic accidents
D. are 15 percent less than drunken adult walkers with the same level
59. According to the passage, what is Bloomberg?
A. A researcher. B. A specialist in traffic safety.
C. A clerk of a consulting company. D. A government official