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.
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.
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. A BAC of 0.10% is equal to
or greater than the legal limit in all 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. In 2001, 25% of drivers ages 15 to 20 who died in motor vehicle
crashes had been drinking alcohol.
Young men ages 18 to 20 (still under the legal drinking age)
report driving while impaired almost as frequently as men ages 21
to 34.
In 2000, 23% of the 2,197 traffic fatalities among children
ages 0 to 14 years involved alcohol.
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 in crashes involving
alcohol.
Nearly three quarters of drivers convicted of driving while
impaired are either frequent heavy drinkers or alcoholics.
Prevention Strategies
Effective measures to prevent injuries
and deaths from impaired driving include:
Promptly suspending the driver's
licenses of people who drive while intoxicated.
Lowering the permissible levels of blood alcohol concentration
(BAC) for adults to 0.08% in all states.
Zero tolerance laws for drivers younger than 21 years old in
all states.
Sobriety checkpoints.
Multi-faceted community-based approaches to alcohol control
and DUI prevention.
Reducing the legal limit for blood alcohol concentration.
Raising state and federal alcohol excise taxes.
Implementing compulsory blood alcohol testing when traffic
crashes result in injury.
Drunk Driving Statistics
Drunk driving is known in some states as DUI (driving under the influence),
DWI (driving while intoxicated) and OWI (operating while intoxicated).
However, regardless of what you choose to call it, it's drunk driving.
Drunk driving is impaired driving, and impaired driving increases
the probability that you'll become one of the many drunk driving statistics
that occur every two minutes.
As if the drunk driving facts aren't scary enough, the laws and the
penalties for drunk drivers are becoming more harsh
but never
forget the most important drunk driving fact of all, the consequences
for the victims are always present and remain the same.
Source: NHTNA, Shults, Howat, Bincoe, Liu, De Jong, Brewer, and the
National Committee on Injury Prevention and Control 1989.
We
Help You Find Your Way! Call 877-456-3313 Now!
|
Last
Updated: 2/9/05
Copyright © 2005 Midwestdrugrehab.com -
All Rights Reserved |
|