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Impaired Driving On This Page Overview Occurrence and Consequences Cost Groups at Risk Risk Factors CDC Activities Prevention Strategies References Overview Impaired driving will affect one in three Americans during their lifetimes (NHTSA 2003a). Occurrence and Consequences Alcohol-related motor vehicle crashes kill someone every 30 minutes and nonfatally injure someone every two minutes (NHTSA 2002a). During 2002, 17,419 people in the U.S. died in alcohol-related motor vehicle crashes, representing 41% of all traffic-related deaths (NHTSA 2003a). In 2001, more than 1.4 million drivers were arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol or narcotics (FBI 2001). That’s slightly more than 1 percent of the 120 million self-reported episodes of alcohol–impaired driving among U.S. adults each year (Dellinger et al. 1999). Drugs other than alcohol (e.g., marijuana and cocaine) have been identified as factors in 18% of deaths among motor vehicle drivers. Other drugs are generally used in combination with alcohol (NHTSA 1993). Nearly two-thirds of children under 15 who died in alcohol-related crashes between 1985 and 1996 were riding with the drinking driver. More than two-thirds of the drinking drivers were old enough to be the parent of the child who was killed, and fewer than 20% of the children killed were properly restrained at the time of the crash (Quinlan 2000). Cost In its publication The Economic Impact of Motor Vehicle Crashes, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported that alcohol-related crashes in 2000 were associated with more than $51 billion in total costs (Blincoe 2002). Groups at Risk Male drivers involved in fatal motor vehicle crashes are almost twice as likely as female drivers to be intoxicated with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.10% or greater (NHTSA 2003a). A BAC of 0.08% is equal to or greater than the legal limit in most states. At all levels of blood alcohol concentration, the risk of being involved in a crash is greater for young people than it is for older people (Mayhew 1986). In 2002, 24% of drivers ages 15 to 20 who died in motor vehicle crashes had been drinking alcohol (NHTSA 2003b). Young men ages 18 to 20 (too young to buy alcohol legally) report driving while impaired almost as frequently as men ages 21 to 34 (Liu 1997). In 2002, 22% of the 2,197 traffic fatalities among children ages 0 to 14 years involved alcohol (NHTSA 2003c). Risk Factors Adult drivers ages 35 and older who have been arrested for impaired driving are 11 to 12 times more likely than those who have never been arrested to die eventually in crashes involving alcohol (Brewer 1994). Nearly three quarters of drivers convicted of driving while impaired are either frequent heavy drinkers (alcohol abusers) or alcoholics (people who are alcohol dependent) (Miller 1986). CDC Activities Actions to decrease alcohol-related fatal crashes involving young drivers have been effective Over the past 20 years, alcohol-related fatal crash rates have decreased by 60 percent for drivers ages 16 to 17 years and 55 percent for drivers ages 18 to 20 years. However, this progress has stalled in the past few years.
Approximate Word count = 2044
Approximate Pages = 8.2
(250 words per page double spaced)
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