Ignition interlock devices & road safety statistics
9,967 people were killed in drunk driving crashes in 2014.
Source: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 2015
IN 2013, A TOTAL OF 1,149 CHILDREN 14 AND YOUNGER WERE KILLED IN MOTOR VEHICLE TRAFFIC CRASHES. OF THOSE 1,149 FATALITIES, 200 (17%) OCCURRED IN ALCOHOL-IMPAIRED-DRIVING CRASHES. OUT OF THOSE 200 DEATHS, 121 (61%) WERE OCCUPANTS OF VEHICLES WITH DRIVERS WHO HAD BACS OF .08 OR HIGHER, AND ANOTHER 29 CHILDREN (15%) WERE PEDESTRIANS OR PEDALCYCLISTS STRUCK BY DRIVERS WITH BACS OF .08 OR HIGHER. NHTSA data query, 2013.
10,076 people were killed in drunk driving crashes in 2013 - 1 every 53 minutes.
Source: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 2014
Every day in America, another 28 people die as a result of drunk driving crashes.
Source: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration FARS data, 2014
Drunk driving costs each adult in the United States almost $800 per year.
Source: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 2014
Drunk driving costs the United States $199 billion a year.
Source: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 2014
In 2012, 15% of all drivers involved in fatal crashes during the week were alcohol-impaired, compared to 30% on weekends.
Source: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration FARS data, 2013
IN FATAL CRASHES IN 2014, THE HIGHEST PERCENTAGE OF DRUNK DRIVERS WAS FOR DRIVERS AGES 21 TO 24 (30 PERCENT), FOLLOWED BY AGES 25 TO 34 (29 PERCENT) AND 35 TO 44 (24 PERCENT).
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. “Traffic Safety Facts 2014: Alcohol-Impaired Driving.” Washington DC: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 2016. http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/Pubs/812231.pdf
In fatal crashes in 2011, the highest percentage of drunk drivers was for drivers ages 21 to 24 (32%), followed by ages 25 to 34 (30%) and 35 to 44 (24%).
Source: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 2012
Each day, people drive drunk almost 300,000 times, but fewer than 4,000 are arrested.
Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2012
Impairment is not determined by the type of drink, but rather by the amount of alcohol drunk over time.
Source: National Highway Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, 2012
IN 2014, THREE TIMES AS MANY MALES WERE ARRESTED FOR DRUNK DRIVING AS FEMALES (401,904 V 130,480)
Federal Bureau of Investigation, Crime in the United States: 2014. https://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2014/crime-in-the-u.s.-2014/tables/table-33
Adults drank too much and got behind the wheel about 112 million times in 2010—that is almost 300,000 incidents of drinking and driving each day.
Source: Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, 2011
Almost half of drivers killed in crashes who tested positive for drugs also had alcohol in their system.
Source: Johnston, L. D., O’Malley, P. M., Bachman, J. G., & Schulenberg, J. E., 2011
In 2010, an estimated 4 million U.S. adult respondents reported at least one episode of alcohol-impaired driving, for an estimated total of approximately 112 million alcohol-impaired driving episodes or 479 episodes per 1,000 adult population. From a peak in 2006, such episodes decreased 30% through 2010. Men accounted for 81% of all episodes with young men aged 21-34 years accounting for 32% of all episodes. Additionally, 85% of alcohol-impaired driving episodes were reported by persons who also reported binge drinking, and the 4.5% of the adult population who reported binge drinking at least four times per month accounted for 55% of all alcohol-impaired driving episodes.
Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2011
Every 90 seconds a person is injured in a drunk driving crash.
Source: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Fars data, 2011
ABOUT ONE-THIRD OF ALL DRIVERS ARRESTED OR CONVICTED OF DRUNK DRIVING ARE REPEAT OFFENDERS.
(Fell, Jim. “Repeat DWI Offenders in the United States.” Washington, DC: National Department of Transportation, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Traffic Tech No. 85, February 1995.)
In 2011 1.2 million drivers were arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol or narcotics.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, 2011
It can cost another’s life. Alcohol-related traffic crashes don’t only affect the impaired driver. One third of alcohol-involved traffic fatalities are passengers, occupants in other vehicles or pedestrians.
Source: AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, 2011
ALMOST HALF OF ALL DRIVERS WHO WERE KILLED IN CRASHES AND TESTED POSITIVE FOR DRUGS ALSO HAD ALCOHOL IN THEIR SYSTEM.
Johnston, L. D., O'Malley, P. M., Bachman, J. G., & Schulenberg, J. E. (2011). Monitoring the Future national survey results on drug use, 1975-2011. Volume I: Secondary school students (NIH Publication No. 10-7584). Bethesda, MD: National Institute on Drug Abuse, 734 pp
An average drunk driver has driven drunk 80 times before first arrest.
Source: Centers for Disease Control, 2011
“A wealth of research continues to show that drivers compelled to install ignition interlock device or IIDs in their vehicles tend to have far fewer alcohol-related crashes, than drivers who have had their license suspended after being convicted of a DUI offense. Not only that, as a study in contrasts, IIDs are more effective than other methods at reducing re-arrest among convicted drunk drivers and keeping them off the road.”
Source: John B. Townsend II, AAA Mid-Atlantic’s Manager of Public and Government Affairs, 2014
All 50 states have some sort of ignition interlock law. Fifteen states—Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Connecticut, Hawaii, Kansas, Louisiana, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, and Washington—have mandatory ignition interlock provisions for all offenses. Illinois and Colorado’s laws are not mandatory for a first conviction, but there are strong incentives to install an interlock device [ignition interlock device, IID] on the first conviction.
Source: National Conference of State Legislatures, 2014
Currently, 81 million Americans live in states that have all-offender ignition interlock laws, compared to 2 million Americans in 2006, and are therefore afforded additional protection against the alcohol-impaired driver. However, arrest data show ignition interlocks are still a vastly underutilized tool. This under utilization is evident by simply comparing the approximately 180,000 interlocks [ignition interlock devices, IID] in use in the United States in 2008 to the approximately 1.4 million impaired driving arrests made. This comparison shows there still is a long way to go to using ignition interlocks [ignition interlock devices, IID] to their full potential.
Source: Brian A. Ursino, Director of Law Enforcement, American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators, 2014
In New Mexico the number of alcohol-related crashes decreased from 128 in 2012 to 106 in 2013. The number of DWI arrests was also down, and one less person died in a drunken-driving crash in 2013 than the previous year. One factor is believed to be New Mexico’s ignition interlock law, which mandates one of the [ignition interlock, IID] devices for all DWI offenders. The state currently leads the nation in the number of ignition interlock devices (IID) installed per 10,000 residents.
Source: Santa Fe Prevention Alliance, 2014