Alcohol On The Road

We Remember, Inc.

Alcohol On The Road

Facts Related to drinking and driving, both offenders and victims

NHTSA estimates that alcohol was involved in 39 percent of fatal crashes and in 7 percent of all crashes in 2004

The 16,694 fatalities in alcohol-related crashes during 2004 represent an average of one alcohol-related fatality every 31 minutes.

Traffic fatalities in alcohol-related crashes fell by 2.4 percent, from 17,105 in 2003 to 16,694 in 2004. The 16,694 alcohol-related fatalities in 2004 (39% of total traffic fatalities for the year) represent a 4-percent reduction from the 17,308 alcohol-related fatalities reported in 1994 (43% of the total).

An estimated 248,000 people were injured in crashes where police reported that alcohol was present — an average of one person injured approximately every 2 minutes. Approximately 1.4 million drivers were arrested in 2003 for driving under the influence of alcohol or narcotics. This is an arrest rate of 1 for every 135 licensed drivers in the United States.

The cost in Dollars of DRINKING and DRIVING Alcohol-related crashes cost society $.95 per drink or $1.90 per ounce of alcohol consumed. This figure includes drinks consumed at home. Miller et al, 1996)

A DRUNK DRIVING CRASH costs innocent victims $26,000. Comparable crime costs per victim: assault-- $19,000; robbery--$13,000; motor vehicle theft--$4,000. Yet, the DRUNK DRIVING CRASH is the only one of these crimes that is often not a felony for a first offense. (Miller, et al., 1996a, 1996b)

The cost for each injured survivor of an alcohol-related crash averaged $67,000, including $6,000 in health care costs and $13,000 in lost productivity. (Miller et al, 1996b)

Crashes involving BAC positive drivers under 21 cost society $21 billion, including $1.2 billion in medical spending. 18% of their crash costs result from alcohol-involved crashes. (Miller et al., 1996b)

Time of Day and Day of Week

The rate of alcohol involvement in fatal crashes is more than 3 times higher at night than during the day (60% vs. 18%). For all crashes, the alcohol involvement is 5 times higher at night (16% vs. 3%). In 2004, 30 percent of all fatal crashes during the week were alcohol-related, compared to 51 percent on weekends. For all crashes, the alcohol involvement rate was 5 percent during the week and 12 percent during the weekend.

Children

In 2004, a total of 442 (21%) of the fatalities among children age 14 and younger occurred in crashes involving alcohol. Of those 442 fatalities, approximately half (220) of those killed were passengers in vehicles with drivers who had been drinking, with BAC levels of .01 g/dL or higher. An additional 115 children were killed as passengers in vehicles with drivers who had not been drinking.

Another 64 children age 14 and younger who were killed in traffic crashes in 2004 were pedestrians or pedalcyclists who were struck by drivers with BAC .01 g/dL or higher.

Drivers
	In fatal crashes in 2004, the highest percentage of drivers with BAC levels of .08 g/dL or higher was for drivers ages 21 to 24 (32%), followed by ages 25 to 34 (27%) and 35 to 44 (23%).

Minimum Legal Drinking Age Laws
	• All states and the District of Columbia have enforced 21-year-old minimum drinking age laws. In 2002, an estimated 917 lives saved in traffic crashes as a result of the age 21 minimum drinking age laws (NHTSA, 2002). • Increasing the minimum drinking age from 18 to 21 has reduced both drinking and traffic crashes among youth by 10 to 15% (O’Malley & Wagenaar, 1991).

Alcohol Motor Vehicle Crash Deaths
	• In 2002, 17,419 people in the United States died in alcohol-related motor vehicle crashes, accounting for 41% of all trafficto 20 years were alcohol-related (Samber, 1997; NHTSA, 1997). • From 1997 through 2002, 2,355 children died in alcohol-related motor vehicle crashes; 1,588 (68%) of these children were riding with a drinking driver (CDC, MMWR, 2004).

For more information:
We Remember, Inc.
P.O. Box 10126
Brooksville, FL 34603-0126 US
1-888-588-4525