Facts About Alcohol and Driving Impairment
Driving while intoxicated and driving under the influence are serious offenses. Yet, despite the growing awareness of the nationwide problem people continue to operate their vehicles with illegal and dangerous amounts of alcohol or illicit substances in their blood stream. Here are recent statistics regarding drunk or otherwise impaired drivers and their victims.
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Alcohol-Related Road Fatalities
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Even though drunk driving remains a significant problem across the United States, in 2007 the total number of alcohol-related deaths was at its lowest since 1999. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 12,998 fatalities in 2007 were alcohol-related, which is 31.7 percent of the overall number of road fatalities. The rate of alcohol-related fatalities per 100 million vehicle miles of travel in 2007 was the lowest ever recorded at .43, down from .45 the previous year.
Gender
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Men are more inclined to be alcohol-impaired behind the wheel than are women. In 2007, 83 percent of legally drunk drivers involved in a road fatality were men. Only 15 percent of these drivers were women. (The extra 2 percent accounts for unknown data and slight margins of data-gathering error.) This percentage for men has risen from 81 percent since 2006, while the percentage for women is down from 18 percent.
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State Statistics
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Texas had the highest number of driver-impaired road fatalities in 2007 with 1,292. At 47.7 percent, North Dakota had the highest percentage of driver-impaired fatalities when compared to the total number of road fatalities in general. In other words, of North Dakota's 111 road fatalities in 2007, 55 involved an impaired driver. Utah by far had the lowest rate with 17.1 percent.
Age
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According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 21.5 percent of 21 to 25 year-olds had driven under the influence of alcohol (legal and/or illegal blood-alcohol content) in 2008, the highest among the demographics. The lowest were those 65 and over, of which only 2 percent had driven under the influence of alcohol in 2008. Of those 16 to 17 years-old, 7.2 percent had driven under the influence of alcohol.
Other Statistics
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According to Mothers Against Drunk Driving, on average somebody dies as a result of drunk driving every 45 minutes in the United States. Thirty percent of the American population will be involved in an alcohol-related traffic accident at some point in their lives. A first-time DWI offender has on average driven drunk 87 times prior to the arrest. Alcohol-related road accidents cost the American public $114.3 billion in 2000. Seventeen percent of impaired drivers who are injured in a traffic accident are charged and convicted of their crime, while 11 percent are charged and not convicted, and 72 percent are not charged at all.
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