US Drink Drive Statistics

• In 2012, 10,322 people were killed in alcohol-impaired driving crashes, accounting for nearly one-third (31%) of all traffic-related deaths in the United States.
• Of the 1,168 traffic deaths among children ages 0 to 14 years in 2012, 239 (20%) involved an alcohol-impaired driver.
• Of the 239 child passengers ages 14 and younger who died in alcohol-impaired driving crashes in 2012, over half (124) were riding in the vehicle with the alcohol-impaired driver.
• In 2010, over 1.4 million drivers were arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol or narcotics. That's one percent of the 112 million self-reported episodes of alcohol-impaired driving among U.S. adults each year.
• Drugs other than alcohol (e.g., marijuana and cocaine) are involved in about 18% of motor vehicle driver deaths. These other drugs are often used in combination with alcohol.
• At all levels of blood alcohol concentration (BAC), the risk of being involved in a crash is greater for young people than for older people.
• Among drivers with BAC levels of 0.08 % or higher involved in fatal crashes in 2012, one out of every 3 were between 21 and 24 years of age (32%). The next two largest groups were ages 25 to 34 (27%) and 35 to 44 (24%)
• Among motorcyclists killed in fatal crashes in 2012, 29% had BACs of 0.08% or greater.
• Nearly half of the alcohol-impaired motorcyclists killed each year are age 40 or older, and motorcyclists ages 40-44 have the highest percentage of deaths with BACs of 0.08% or greater (44%)
• Drivers with a BAC of 0.08% or higher involved in fatal crashes were seven times more likely to have a prior conviction for DWI than were drivers with no alcohol in their system? (7% and 1%, respectively).

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