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.

How big is the problem?

  • In 2015, 10,265 people died in alcohol-impaired driving crashes, accounting for nearly one-third (29%) of all traffic-related deaths in the United States.1
  • Of the 1, 1,132 traffic deaths among children ages 0 to 14 years in 2015, 209 (16%) involved an alcohol-impaired driver.1
  • In 2015, nearly 1.1 million drivers were arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol or narcotics.3 That’s one percent of the 111 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

Annual Self-reported Alcohol-impaired Driving Episodes among U.S. Adults, 1993–2014

Annual episodes in millions: 1993-123,1995-115,1997-116,1999-159,2002-159,2004-124,2006-161,2008-131,2010-112,2012-121,2014-111

Source: CDC. Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), 1993–2014. Available at https://www.cdc.gov/brfss
Note: The annual estimated alcohol-impaired driving episodes were calculated using BRFSS respondents’ answers to this question: “During the past 30 days, how many times have you driven when you’ve had perhaps too much to drink?” Annual estimates per respondent were calculated by multiplying the reported episodes during the preceding 30 days by 12. These numbers were summed to obtain the annual national estimates (see https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6430a2.htm).

References

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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
  5. 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.
  6. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration. Cannabis. 2015 6/2/2015 [cited 2015 Jul 17]. Available at URL: http://www.samhsa.gov/atod/cannabis.
  7. 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).
  8. 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.
  9. 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.
  10. 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.
  11. 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.
  12. 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.
  13. 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.
  14. 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.
  15. 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.
  16. 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.
  17. 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.
  18. 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.
  19. 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.
  20. 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.
  21. 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.
  22. 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.
  23. National Committee on Injury Prevention and Control. Injury prevention: meeting the challenge. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1989, p.124.
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