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 is one death every 51 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.
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 2015: Uniform Crime Reports. Washington (DC): FBI; 2016 [cited 2017 Jun 1]. Available at URL https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2015/crime-in-the-u.s.-2015/tables/table-29.
- Jewett A, Shults RA, Banerjee T, Bergen G Alcohol-impaired driving among adults— United States, 2012. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2015;64(30):814-17. Available at URL: https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6430a2.htm
- 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/pdf/812117-Drug_and_Alcohol_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 2015 data: motorcycles. Washington, DC: NHTSA; 2017 [cited 2017 Jun1]. Available at URL: http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/Pubs/812353.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/mvoi/AID/ignitioninterlocks.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/mvoi/AID/sobrietyckpts.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.
- Page last reviewed: June 16, 2017
- Page last updated: June 16, 2017
- Content source:
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
- National Center for Injury Prevention and Control,
- Division of Unintentional Injury Prevention