Medicine, science, and the law
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This study was carried out to evaluate data about trauma-related winter sports, including risk factors such as high speed, gender, age, alcohol consumption, details about the accident and snow conditions. ⋯ Even though the major causes of accidents were excessive speed, excessive fatigue, technical errors and bad weather conditions, alcohol abuse was often discovered. Random sampling and a non-systematic detection of alcohol blood levels likely led to an underestimation of alcohol consumption-related injuries. It is recommended that investigations into alcoholic intoxication in injured skiers should be carried out on a large scale.