Maryland Accident Law Blog
Every year, in the United States, National Drunk and Drugged Driving And Prevention Month reminds people of the dangers of drunk driving.
According to USA Today, over 1.5 million people were arrested in the U.S. in 2005 for drunk driving. At least that many people are believed to have driven while under the influence of drugs.
National Commission Against Drunk Driving Statistics:
· 41 percent of all traffic crashes are alcohol-related.
· Nearly 600,000 Americans are injured in alcohol-related traffic crashes each year.
· Someone dies in an alcohol-related traffic crash every 30 minutes. Every two minutes, someone is hurt (nonfatally injured) in an alcohol-related accident.
· Three out of every 10 Americans face the possibility of being directly involved in an alcohol-related traffic crash during their lifetime.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – Impaired Driving Facts
· Each year, alcohol-related crashes in the United States cost about $51 billion (Blincoe et al. 2002).
· Most drinking and driving episodes go undetected. In 2001, more than 1.4 million drivers were arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol or narcotics (FBI 2001). That’s slightly more than 1 percent of the 120 million self-reported episodes of alcohol-impaired driving among U.S. adults each year (Dellinger et al.1999). · Drugs other than alcohol (e.g., marijuana and cocaine) have been identified as factors in 18% of motor vehicle driver deaths. Other drugs are generally used in combination with alcohol (NHTSA 1993).
· 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 (NHTSA 2003a). A BAC of 0.08% is equal to or greater than the legal limit in most 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 (Mayhew 1986)
· . In 2002, 24% of drivers ages 15 to 20 who died in motor vehicle crashes had been drinking alcohol (NHTSA 2003b ).
· Young men ages 18 to 20 (too young to buy alcohol legally) report driving while impaired almost as frequently as men ages 21 to 34 (Liu 1997).
· In 2002, 22% of the 2,197 traffic fatalities among children ages 0 to 14 years involved alcohol (NHTSA 2003c).
· 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 eventually in crashes involving alcohol (Brewer 1994).
· Nearly three quarters of drivers convicted of driving while impaired are either frequent heavy drinkers (alcohol abusers) or alcoholics (people who are alcohol dependent) (Miller 1986).
National Drunk and Drugged Driving Prevention Month was first introduced by President Ronald Reagan in 1982.
A person who has been seriously injured in a car accident, or lost a loved in an accident, because of a drunk driver may want to consult an attorney to find out whether they should file a personal injury lawsuit to receive compensation for their suffering and loss. The law firm of Lebowitz and Mzhen handles personal injury cases in Washington D.C. and Maryland. Contact Lebowitz and Mzhen today for a free consultation.
National Drunk and Drugged Driving Prevention Month, Yourhealthinformation.com
National Drunk and Drugged Driving Prevention Month, Thewhitehouse.gov
Related Web Resource:
Remarks at a White House Ceremony Observing National Drunk and Drugged Driving Awareness Week, reagan.utexas.edu, December 16, 1985