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Statistics and Published
Papers
Two out of every five Americans will be involved in an
alcohol-related crash in their lifetime. In 1996, an estimated 17,126 people were killed
and over 1,000,000 injured in alcohol-and other drug-impaired driving crashes. Total
traffic fatalities increased for the first time in a decade in 1995 and continued the trend in 1996.
Alcohol-related traffic deaths decreased slightly in
1996. Impaired driving fatalities represented 40.9% of all traffic fatalities.
During the period 1982 through 1995, approximately 300,274
persons lost their lives in alcohol-related traffic crashes. (NHTSA, 1996)
The improved news is that from 1980 - 1996 the number of
alcohol-related traffic fatalities declined more than 40%. The bad news is that thousands
of people continue to be killed or seriously injured in collisions that do not have to
happen! For the first time in a decade, alcohol-related traffic fatalities increased in
1995.
It is estimated that one person is killed every 30 minutes
in an
impaired driving crash and
Economic costs of alcohol-related crashes are
estimated to be
$45
billion yearly.
An additional $70.5 billion is lost in quality of life due
to these crashes. (Miller et al, 1996b)
In 1995, 17,274 people were killed in crashes involving alcohol
in the
United States -- an average of one every 32 minutes and one is injured every 26 seconds.
These deaths constituted approximately 41.3% of the total 41,798 traffic
fatalities.
(NHTSA, 1996)
In 1996, about 1,058,990 were injured in alcohol-related crashes
- an
average of one person injured approximately every 30 seconds.
About 30,000 people a year will suffer permanent work-related
disabilities. (Miller et al, 1996b)
1996 also marked an alarming new and deadly trend among youth.
Last year, alcohol-related traffic deaths among youth ages 15-20
increased for the first time in seven years from 2,206 in 1995 to
2,315 in 1996. This supports reported increases in binge drinking.
Every weekday night from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m., one in 13 drivers is
drunk
(BAC of .08 or more). Between 1 a.m. and 6 a.m. on weekend
mornings, one in seven drivers is drunk. (Miller et al., 1996c) The rate of alcohol
involvement in fatal crashes is three and
one-third times as high at night than as during the day. For all
crashes, the alcohol involvement rate is nearly five times as high at
night. (Miller et al, 1996)
In the past decade, four times as many Americans died in drunk
driving crashes as were killed in the Vietnam War. (NHTSA, 1995)
Drunk driving is the nation's most frequently committed violent
crime. (MADD, 1996)
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