Sobering Drunk Driving Statistics

According to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration statistics, in 2007, an estimated 12,998 people died in alcohol-impaired traffic crashes involving a driver with an illegal BAC (.08 or greater). These deaths constitute 31.7% of the 41,059 total traffic fatalities in 2007.

What about holiday numbers? Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) stats for 2004 (the last year available) showed 47.4% of Christmas holiday (meaning 1800h on 12/24/04 to 0559h on 12/29/04) traffic fatalities were alcohol-related, and 50.2% of New Year's holiday (meaning 1800h on 12/31/03 to 0559h on 1/5/04) traffic fatalities were alcohol-related.

MADD says that about three in every 10 Americans will be involved in an alcohol-related crash at some time in their lives.

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Mothers Against Drunk Driving Canada estimates that in 2005, there were 3,226 traffic fatalities in Canada. Of these, they estimate that at least 1,210 – 37.5%, or more than three deaths per day – involved impaired driving, but that the figure "is a conservative estimate, due to the underreporting that results from the inability to test surviving impaired drivers and reliance on police reports." Moreover, they estimate that in 2005, 380,668 individuals were injured in traffic accidents, and approximately 71,413 of these – or 196 per day – were injured in impaired driving crashes.

And a 2002 Goldfarb Consultants executive summary on public opinion on impaired driving in Canada found that one in 10 drivers admitted that they had driven at least once in the past 12 months while probably over the Criminal Code's blood alcohol limit. Further, 14% of respondents said that in the past 12 months they had been in a vehicle with a driver that they believed was probably over the Criminal Code's blood alcohol limit, and 31% of respondents aged 18-24 said that in the past 12 months they had been in a vehicle with a driver that they believed was probably over the Criminal Code's blood alcohol limit.

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