Astonishing Drunk Driving Facts

"Alcohol is a hypnotic sedative and nervous system suppressive. Addiction to alcoholism has become a major social problem. Driving under influence of alcohol has become one of the common feature and cause of accidents today. As per studies carried out by NHTSA in 2006, Alcohol-related motor vehicle accidents under influence of alcohol kill someone every 31 minutes and injure someone every two minutes in US alone.

In 2005, 16,885 people died in alcohol-related motor vehicle crashes, accounting for 39% of all traffic-related deaths in the United States (NHTSA 2006).

In 2006 there were 17,941 driving fatalities related to alcohol. This was 41 percent of the total 43,000 fatalities.

An alcohol-related motor vehicle crash kills someone every 31 minutes and nonfatally injures someone every two minutes (NHTSA 2006).

Drugs other than alcohol (e.g., marijuana and cocaine) are involved in about 18% of motor vehicle driver deaths. These other drugs are generally used in combination with alcohol (Jones et al. 2003).

Each year, alcohol-related crashes in the United States cost about $51 billion (Blincoe et al. 2002).

Most drinking and driving episodes go undetected. In 2005, nearly 1.4 million drivers were arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol or narcotics (Department of Justice 2005). That’s less than one percent of the 159 million self-reported episodes of alcohol–impaired driving among U.S. adults each year (Quinlan et al. 2005).

Half of all holiday driving fatalities are alcohol-related.

Most people with DUIs are not alcoholics.

About 80 percent of alcohol-related fatalities are caused by beer consumption.

About two in every five Americans will be involved in an alcohol-related crash at some time in their lives. (NHTSA, 1996)

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. alcohol-related crashes tend to be much more serious.

It is estimated that 2.6 million drunk driving crashes each year victimize 4 million innocent people who are injured or have their vehicles damaged.

Male drivers involved in fatal crashes were nearly twice as likely to have been intoxicated (21.8%) than were females (11.2%).

18-20 year olds are responsible for more than 10 percent of the drunken driving trips in America.

More than 2,300 anti-drunk driving laws have been passed since 1980.

In addition to possible jail time and fines, a DUI conviction is cause to have your insurance policy revoked and rates to skyrocket. Many people will be forced to get SR-22 insurance.

Ways to Avoid Driving Drunk:

Get a designated driver.
Drink at locations within walking distance of your home.
Call a cab.
Search for services that will take both you and your car home if you are drunk.
Look for public transportation in larger cities.
Ask the bartender for help and let him know if you are the designated driver.
Offer to pay for a cab or drive friends home if they are drunk.
Drink nonalcoholic beverages.

Life is precious. It is in our hands to curb this menace."