Every day, 28 people in the United States die in motor vehicle crashes that involve an alcohol-impaired driver.

[Emily]

http://www.cdc.gov/motorvehiclesafety/impaired_driving/impaired-drv_factsheet.html

Impaired Driving: Get the Facts






Every day, 28 people in the United States die in motor vehicle crashes that involve an alcohol-impaired driver. This amounts to one death every 53 minutes.¹ The annual cost of alcohol-related crashes totals more than $44 billion.²
Thankfully, there are effective measures that can help prevent injuries and deaths from alcohol-impaired driving.

• The Problem
• Risk Factors
• BAC Effects
• Prevention
• Additional Resources

How big is the problem?

• In 2014, 9,967 people were killed in alcohol-impaired driving crashes, accounting for nearly one-third (31%) of all traffic-related deaths in the United States.¹
• Of the 1,070 traffic deaths among children ages 0 to 14 years in 2014, 209 (19%) involved an alcohol-impaired driver.¹
• Of the 209 child passengers ages 14 and younger who died in alcohol-impaired driving crashes in 2014, over half (116) were riding in the vehicle with the alcohol-impaired driver.¹
• In 2014, over 1.1 million drivers were arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol or narcotics.³ That's one percent of the 121 million self-reported episodes of alcohol-impaired driving among U.S. adults each year.⁴
• Drugs other than alcohol (legal and illegal) are involved in about 16% of motor vehicle crashes.⁵
• Marijuana use is increasing⁶ and 13% of nighttime, weekend drivers have marijuana in their system.⁷
• Marijuana users were about 25% more likely to be involved in a crash than drivers with no evidence of marijuana use, however other factors ? such as age and gender ? may account for the increased crash risk among marijuana users.⁵

A Closer Look - Terminology

Sobriety checkpoints:

Traffic stops where law enforcement officers assess drivers? level of alcohol impairment. These checkpoints consistently reduce alcohol-related crashes, typically by 9%.¹⁰
Ignition interlocks:

Devices that are installed in the vehicles of people who have been convicted of driving while impaired. They prevent operation of the vehicle by anyone with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) above a specified safe level (usually 0.02% ? 0.04%). When installed, interlocks are associated with nearly a 70% reduction in re-arrest rates for impaired driving.¹¹






References

• Department of Transportation (US), National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Traffic Safety Facts 2014 data: alcohol-impaired driving. Washington, DC: NHTSA; 2015 [cited 2016 Feb 5]. Available at URL: http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/Pubs/812231.pdf.
• Blincoe LJ, Miller TR, Zaloshnja E, Lawrence BA. The economic and societal impact of motor vehicle crashes, 2010. (Revised). Washington, DC: NHTSA; 2015. [cited 2016 Feb 5]. Available at URL: http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/pubs/812013.pdf.
• Department of Justice (US), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Crime in the United States 2014: Uniform Crime Reports. Washington (DC): FBI; 2015 [cited 2016 Feb 5]. Available at URL https://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/uc...ables/table-29.
• Jewett A, Shults RA, Banerjee T, Bergen G Alcohol-impaired driving among adults? United States, 2012. MMWR Morbi Mortal Wkly Rep. 2015;64(30):814-17.
• Compton RP, Berning A. Traffic Safety Facts Research Note: drugs and alcohol crash risk. Washington, DC: NHTSA; 2015 [cited 2016 Feb 5]. Available at URL: http://www.nhtsa.gov/staticfiles/nti...Crash_Risk.pdf.
• Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration. Cannabis. 2015 6/2/2015 [cited 2015 Jul 17]. Available at URL: http://www.samhsa.gov/atod/cannabis.
• Berning A, Compton R, Wochinger K. Results of the 2013?2014 National Roadside Survey of alcohol and drug use by drivers. Washington, DC: NHTSA; 2015 (DOT HS 812 118).
• Zador PL, Krawchuk SA, Voas RB. Alcohol-related relative risk of driver fatalities and driver involvement in fatal crashes in relation to driver age and gender: an update using 1996 data. Journal of Studies on Alcohol 2000;61:387-95.
• Department of Transportation (US), National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Traffic Safety Facts 2013 data: motorcycles. Washington, DC: NHTSA; 2015 [cited 2016 Feb 5]. Available at http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/Pubs/812148.pdf.
• Guide to Community Preventive Services. Motor vehicle-related injury prevention: reducing alcohol-impaired driving. [cited 2016 Feb 5]. Available at URL: http://www.thecommunityguide.org/mvoi/AID/index.html.
• Guide to Community Preventive Services. Reducing alcohol-impaired driving: ignition interlocks. [cited 2016 Feb 5]. Available at URL: http://www.thecommunityguide.org/mvo...nterlocks.html.
• Guide to Community Preventive Services. Reducing alcohol-impaired driving: publicized sobriety checkpoint programs. [cited 2016 Feb 5]. Available at URL: http://www.thecommunityguide.org/mvo...ietyckpts.html.
• Hingson R, Sleet DA. Modifying alcohol use to reduce motor vehicle injury. In Gielen AC, Sleet DA, DiClemente R (Eds). Injury and Violence Prevention: Behavior change Theories, Methods, and Applications. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2006.
• Holder HD, Gruenewald PJ, Ponicki WR, et al. Effect of community-based interventions on high-risk drinking and alcohol-related injuries. JAMA 2000;284:2341-7.
• Shults RA, Elder RW, Nichols J, et al. Effectiveness of multicomponent programs with community mobilization for reducing alcohol-impaired driving. Am J Prev Med 2009;37(4):360-371.
• Higgins-Biddle J, Dilonardo J. Alcohol and highway safety: screening and brief intervention for alcohol problems as a community approach to improving traffic safety. Washington, DC: NHTSA; 2013 DOT HS 811 836.
• Guide to Community Preventive Services. Reducing excessive alcohol use: increasing alcohol taxes. [cited 2016 Feb 5]. Available at URL: http://www.thecommunityguide.org/alcohol/increasingtaxes.html.
• Howat P, Sleet D, Smith I. Alcohol and driving: is the .05% blood alcohol concentration limit justified? Drug Alcohol Rev 1991;10(1):151-66.
• Wagenaar AC, Livingston MD, Staras SS. Effects of a 2009 Illinois alcohol tax increase on fatal motor vehicle crashes. Am J Public Health 2015;105(9):1880-5.
• Wagenaar AC, Maldonado-Molina MM, Ma L, et al. Effects of legal BAC limits on fatal crash involvement: analyses of 28 states from 1976 through 2002. J Safety Res 2007;38:493-9.
• Fell JC, Voas RB. The effectiveness of a 0.05 blood alcohol concentration (BAC) limit for driving in the United States. Addiction 2013;109:869-74.
• Blais E, Bellavance F, Marcil A, Carnis L. Effects of introducing an administrative .05% blood alcohol concentration limit on law enforcement patterns and alcohol-related collisions in Canada. Accid Anal Prev 2015;82:101-11.
• National Committee on Injury Prevention and Control. Injury prevention: meeting the challenge. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1989, p.124.