Education promotes prevention. Take a stand against impaired driving...

According to USA Today, more than 1.5 million people were arrested in the United States last year for driving drunk and at least that many are estimated to have driven under the influence of drugs.

Drunk and drugged drivers continue to haunt our roads and highways causing more than 17,000 Americans to die each year; in 2003, 17,013 people died in an alcohol-related traffic crash. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, impaired driving will affect one in three Americans during their lifetimes.

In an effort to increase community awareness, December is National Drunk and Drugged Driving (3D) Prevention Month. First started in 1982 by President Ronald Reagan, this national holiday has experienced increased community support and continues to promote safer streets on a daily basis.

National Commission Against Drunk Driving Statistics

• 41 percent of all traffic crashes are alcohol-related.

• Nearly 600,000 Americans are injured in alcohol-related traffic crashes each year.

• Someone dies in an alcohol-related traffic crash every 30 minutes. Every two minutes someone is hurt (nonfatally injured) in an alcohol-related accident.

• Three out of every 10 Americans face the possibility of being directly involved in an alcohol-related traffic crash during their lifetime.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention - Impaired Driving Facts

• 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 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).

• To further decrease alcohol-related fatal crashes, communities need to implement and enforce strategies that are known to be effective, such as sobriety checkpoints, 0.08% BAC laws, minimum legal drinking age laws, and "zero tolerance" laws for young drivers (Shults et al. 2001, Shults et al. 2002). 

• Drugs other than alcohol (e.g., marijuana and cocaine) have been identified as factors in 18% of motor vehicle driver deaths. Other drugs are generally used in combination with alcohol (NHTSA 1993).

• 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). 

• 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).

The statistics, though horrifying, help us to realize how imperative educating our community is. It could help save a life...

By: Mary Whitmore

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