Statistics

Among those that were primarily legislative in nature, laws establishing administrative license revocation (ALR) have been found to reduce alcohol-related crashes by up to 40 percent. This adds support for prior research showing the effectiveness of driver license sanctions in general. up>[ref.]

The annual employer cost of motor vehicle crashes in which at least one driver was impaired by alcohol exceeds $9 billion. up>[ref.]

Of the over 159 million alcohol-impaired driving trips surveys estimate Americans took in 2002, over 44 percent, or 71 million trips, were made by moderate drinkers. up>[ref.]

Forty-one percent of the 2,182 motorcycle operators who died in single-vehicle crashes in 2007 had BAC levels of .08 g/dL or higher. Sixty-five percent of those killed in single-vehicle crashes on weekend nights had BACs of .08 g/dL or higher up>[ref.]

Over 1.46 million drivers were arrested in 2006 for driving under the influence of alcohol or narcotics. This is an arrest rate of 1 for every 139 licensed drivers in the United States. up>[ref.]

The risk of a driver who has one or more DWI convictions becoming involved in a fatal crash is about 1.4 times the risk of a driver with no DWI conviction. up>[ref.]

Access to an unlimited amount of alcohol for a flat fee increases the number of drinks in a sitting by 1.6 drinks on average. up>[ref.]

Alcohol use was depicted, typically in a positive light, in more than 70 percent of a sample of episodes in prime-time television programming in 1999. up>[ref.]

Research continues to show that young drivers 15 to 20 years old are more often involved in alcohol-related crashes than any other comparable age group. Alcohol-crash involvement rates, share of the alcohol-crash problem and alcohol-crash risk all reach their peaks with young drivers, with the peaks for fatal crashes occurring at age 21. up>[ref.]

In 2002, 2.3% of Americans 18 and older surveyed reported alcohol-impaired driving, including 3% of 18-20 year olds and 4.1% of 21-34 year olds. up>[ref.]