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Impaired Driving
In
2006, 42,642 people were killed in motor vehicle crashes and 17,602,
or 41%, of these were alcohol-related. Alcohol-related motor vehicle
crashes kill someone every 31 minutes and nonfatally injure someone
every two minutes (NHTSA 2007).
Federal
leadership in critical areas, such as impaired driving, has resulted
in the rapid adoption of life-saving laws in states across the
country. In 2003, we celebrated another milestone in federal leadership
with the adoption of .08 percent BAC by all 50 states. Two other
examples are the national 21 minimum drinking age and zero tolerance
BAC laws for youth.
Now,
there is a critical need in the fight against drunk driving for
uniform adoption of the federally mandated open container and
repeat offender laws.
Additionally,
documented successes in reducing drunk driving have resulted from
the enactment of high BAC laws; laws requiring mandatory BAC testing
for those drivers killed in or drivers who are involved in, yet
survive, a crash in which deaths occur; laws requiring sobriety
checkpoints; and laws penalizing impaired drivers who have one
or more children in the car.
IMPAIRED
DRIVING FACTS
In
2006, 15,121 traffic fatalities occurred in crashes in which at
least one driver or non-occupant had a BAC of 0.08 or greater.
(NHTSA, 2007)
The impact of alcohol involvement increases with injury severity.
Alcohol-involved crashes account for 10% of property damage only
crash costs, 21% of nonfatal injury crash costs, and 46% of fatal
injury crash costs. (NHTSA, 2002)
Approximately
three out of every ten Americans will be involved in an alcohol-related
traffic crash at some time in their lives. (NHTSA, 1999)
Approximately
1.5 million drivers were arrested in 2002 for driving under the
influence of alcohol or narcotics. This is an arrest rate of 1
for every 130 licensed drivers in the United States. (NHTSA, 2004)
In
2003, 21 percent of the children 0 to 14 years old who were killed
in motor vehicle crashes were killed in alcohol-related crashes.
(NHTSA, 2003)
In 2000, 20 percent of the children under 15 years old who died
in motor vehicle crashes were killed in alcohol-related crashes.
(NHTSA, 2000)
More
than two-thirds of child passengers ages 14 and younger who died
in alcohol-related crashes during 1997–2002 were riding with
the drinking driver; only 32% of them were properly restrained
at the time of the crash (Shults 2004).
Safety belts were used by only 25 percent of fatally injured drivers
with BAC levels 0.08 g/dl or higher, compared to 40 percent of
fatally injured with BAC levels between 0.01 g/dl and 0.07 g/dl
and 56 percent of fatally injured drivers with no alcohol (BAC
= 0.00 g/dl). (NHTSA, 2003)
Alcohol-related
crashes cost society approximately $40 billion a year. (NHTSA,
2002)
February
2008
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