Washington, December 24 (ANI): Drinking and walking on New Year’s Eve or any other day of the year is just as bad an idea as driving under the influence, experts have warned.

Trauma surgeon Dr. Thomas Esposito, Loyola University Health System, Maywood, cautioned against the aftermath of drunken walking that could prove fatal.

Esposito, who is also professor of surgery and chief of the division of trauma, surgical critical care and burns in the department of surgery, Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine, said: “Alcohol impairs your physical ability to walk and to drive.

“It impairs your judgment, reflexes and coordination. It’s nothing more than a socially acceptable, over-the-counter stimulant/depressant.”

According to a 2005 report in the journal Injury Prevention, New Year’s Day is more deadly for pedestrians than any other day of the year with as many as 410 pedestrians deaths reported between 1986 to 2002, with fifty-eight percent of those killed having had high blood alcohol concentrations.

Information from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety also revealed that in 2007 “37 percent of fatally injured pedestrians 16 and older had blood alcohol concentrations at or above 0.08 percent.”

Esposito added: “It’s not just walking outside. All the time we see people who have been drinking that have fallen down the stairs or tripped at home and injured themselves. Others have decided to pick a fight using a knife or with someone holding a gun.”

Special advise was further offered to those planning to drink and walk such as not wearing dark clothing at night that can make it difficult for drivers to see, walking solely on the sidewalks and crossing at designated crossings, and having at least one person who has not been drinking to walk with. (ANI)