Drunk and Drugged Driving

Drivers impaired by drug and alcohol consumption kill someone every 30 minutes, nearly 50 people a day. (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. 2004. Stop Impaired Driving. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Transportation.)

Estimates for 2003 indicate that 17,401 people were killed in alcohol-related crashes, accounting for 40 percent of all fatalities in motor vehicle crashes. Estimates for 2003 also indicate that 292,000 people were injured in alcohol-related crashes. (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. 2004. Early Assessment Estimates of Motor Vehicle Crashes. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Transportation.)

In 2001, there were 37,795 fatal motor vehicle traffic crashes in the United States, accounting for 42,116 fatalities. Of these, 41 percent were alcohol-related (at least one driver, pedestrian, or cyclist had a BAC 0.01 or higher). (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. 2003. Alcohol Involvement in Fatal Crashes, 2001. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Transportation.)

Approximately 21 percent of all drivers involved in fatal crashes had a BAC of 0.08 or higher. Of these, 33 percent were age 21 to 24. (Ibid.)

Crashes involving alcohol-impaired or intoxicated drivers with prior DWI convictions accounted for approximately 10 percent of all alcohol-related fatalities. (Ibid.)

During the 30 days preceding a recent survey by the Centers for Disease Control, 30.2 percent of 9th – 12th grade students interviewed nationwide had ridden in a vehicle one or more times with a driver who had been drinking alcohol and 12.1 percent of the students had driven a vehicle one or more times after drinking alcohol. (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 2004. Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance – United States, 2003. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.)

In 2002, more than half of children under the age of 15 killed in alcohol-related crashes were passengers in cars where the driver had been drinking. (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. 2003. Traffic Safety Facts 2002: Children. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Transportation.)

Alcohol-related crashes cost the American public more than $50 billion a year. (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. 2003. Traffic Safety Facts: Laws. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Transportation.)

In 2001, 1.4 million people were arrested in the United States for driving under the influence of alcohol or narcotics. (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. 2004. Traffic Safety Facts. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Transportation.)

On the average, annually during the years 1986 to 2002, 41 percent of motor vehicle deaths on the 4th of July and 51 percent of the deaths on the 1st of January were alcohol-related. (Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Status Report. Vol. 3.39, No. 6, July 3, 2004.)

Nearly 56 percent of Labor Day weekend traffic fatalities in 2002 involved alcohol. Three hundred people were killed. (Mothers Against Drunk Driving Press Release. August 25, 2004. Irving, TX.)

Over four out of five (83 percent) people of driving age have heard of blood alcohol concentration (BAC) levels, but only 27 percent can correctly identify the legal BAC limit in their state. (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. 2003. 2001 National Survey of Drinking and Driving. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Transportation.)

A boat operator with a blood alcohol concentration above .10 percent is estimated to be more than 10 times as likely to die in a boating accident than an operator with zero blood alcohol concentration. (U.S. Coast Guard. 2004. Safety: Boating Under the Influence. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Coast Guard.)

In 2002, underage youth saw 45 percent more beer and ale advertising, 12 percent more distilled spirits advertising, and 65 percent more low-alcohol refresher advertising in magazines than persons 21 years of older. (Jernigan et al. “Sex Differences in Adolescent Exposure to Alcohol Advertising in Magazines.” Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, 2004: 158: 629-634.)

Girls' exposure to low alcohol refresher advertising increased by 216 percent from 2001 to 2002, while boys' exposure increased 46 percent. (Ibid.)