Drunk Driving Statistics

Drunk driving statistics can be quite sobering. Many people continue to drive drunk, regardless of drunk driving statistics. If you regularly drink and drive, please consider the following drunk driving statistics:

• According to drunk driving statistics from National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), an estimated 17,419 people died in the year 2002 in alcohol-related traffic crashes, an average of one every 30 minutes.
  
• About three in every ten Americans will be involved in an alcohol-related crash at some time in their lives.
  
• Drunk driving statistics say that in 2001, more than half a million people were injured in crashes where police reported that alcohol was present, an average of one person injured approximately every two minutes.
  
• Alcohol-related fatalities are caused primarily by the consumption of beer (80 percent) followed by liquor/wine at 20 percent.
  
• The highest intoxication rates in fatal crashes in 2001 were recorded for drivers 21-24 years old (33 percent), followed by ages 25-34 (28 percent) and 35-44 (25 percent).
  
• Drunk driving statistics report that alcohol-involved crashes accounted for 10 percent of property-damage-only crash costs, 21 percent of nonfatal injury crashes and 46 percent of fatal injury crash costs.
  
• The intoxication rate (those over .08 BAC) for male drivers involved in fatal crashes was 24 percent, compared with 13 percent for female drivers.
  
• Drunk driving statistics say that for fatal crashes occurring from midnight to three in the morning, 79 percent involved alcohol.
  
• Drunk driving is the nation's most frequently committed violent crime, killing someone every 30 minutes.
  
• In 2001, 32 percent of all fatal crashes during the week were alcohol-related, compared to 54 percent on weekends.
  

Drunk driving statistics don't lie. If you suspect that your drunk driving is a sign of drug addiction, please think about getting help before you injure yourself or someone else. Drug treatment center referral provides referrals to rehabs that effectively treat alcohol, drug and substance abuse, addressing the behavioral and thinking patterns that directly contribute to drunk driving and its consequences.