The Easy Solution . . .

. . . start driving again:

Sloshed straphangers made up nearly half of all accidental deaths underground during a 13- year Columbia University study.

“Now, if groups are going to a bar, then one should be a designated ‘safe rider,'” warned health professor Robyn Gershon, the study’s author.

Between 1990 and 2003, 145 of 315 unintentional deaths came when boozy riders stumbled off the platform, fell suddenly ill or, in acts of liquid courage, jumped onto the tracks to retrieve a personal item.

Drunken riders died at higher rates than those who were killed or committed suicide. And today’s economy might not help the equation.

“With the changes to the financial picture in New York, there’s talk of an increase in alcohol intake,” Gershon said.

Since most Manhattanites don’t own cars, Gershon said people might think “it’s OK to drink to the point of intoxication because they’re not driving.”