How Many People Die From Drunk Driving Per Year?
How Many People Die From Drunk Driving Per Year?
The NHTSA reported that 10,511 people were killed and more than one million others were arrested for DUI in 2018. According to the FBI, drunk driving accounted for 28% of motor vehicle traffic fatalities in 2016. In 2017, the rate of alcohol-impaired driving-related fatalities per 100,000 people fell by nearly half and decreased to just six deaths per million drivers of legal drinking age.
(Looking for a Montag Law Office? Contact us today!)
Statistics about drunk driving
Drunk driving is a serious problem that affects countless Americans each year. Between 2006 and 2016, there were more than ten thousand reported deaths. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, these deaths accounted for nearly twenty percent of all traffic fatalities. Even more shocking, about one out of every five drivers admitted to driving while under the influence of alcohol.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration first began recording statistics related to alcohol-impaired driving in 1982. Between that year and the present, the number of fatalities among persons under 21 has dropped by 83%. Under-21 drivers now make up about 9% of the overall fatalities in drunk driving crashes. According to Mothers Against Drunk Driving, laws requiring drivers to be 21 years old have prevented more than 35,000 life-threatening crashes.
Cost of drunk driving
The cost of drunk driving is high – more than $132 billion annually in the United States alone. These costs are directly passed on to the drunk driver and their passengers, but also to society as higher taxes. Even first-time drunk drivers place a heavy burden on society with their criminal records, jail time, and judicial and administrative costs.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than one million drivers are arrested every year for DUI offenses. Approximately 29 people die every day in the United States from drunk driving crashes. That’s almost a third of all traffic-related deaths. Last year alone, 10,511 people were killed by drunk drivers.
States with the highest rate of drunk driving fatalities
According to the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration, drunk driving fatalities accounted for nearly 25% of all crashes last year. However, the rate of fatalities attributed to drunk driving varies from state to state. For example, North Dakota experienced relatively few alcohol-impaired driving fatalities, and its rate of DUI fatalities per 100,000 residents ranked sixth lowest. Texas, on the other hand, experienced the highest rate of drunk driving fatalities. Drunk driving was responsible for more than 20,000 of all traffic fatalities in Texas during the period 2004-2018.
The statistics show that drunk driving is particularly dangerous in certain age groups. Teenagers are especially vulnerable to accidents, and they are more likely to drink and drive than adults. Teenagers are the most likely group to die from drunk driving crashes. However, the percentages are lower for older people. In the United States, deaths due to drunk driving fell by 50 percent in 2013 and by 83 percent for those aged 21 and older.
States with the lowest rate of drunk driving fatalities
If you want to avoid getting into a drunk driving accident, it is crucial to know which states have the lowest rates of alcohol-related fatalities. The number of fatalities per capita in each state varies, and several factors can influence the results. For example, the population of each state can affect the number of deaths. States with lower populations will have lower rates of alcohol-related fatalities, while states with higher populations will have higher rates.
According to a recent study, nearly 30% of traffic fatalities in the United States involved at least one alcohol-impaired driver. While this figure is higher than the national average, the rates in these states vary. In 2019, the percentage of fatal crashes involving alcohol-impaired drivers was lower in twenty-one states, including Wyoming, North Dakota, and South Dakota. North Dakota, however, had the highest percentage of alcohol-impaired crashes, accounting for almost 40 percent of all traffic deaths.