It’s no surprise that drinking and driving don’t mix, but even so, many people still do it. Dozens of people die every single day in motor vehicle accidents that involve a driver impaired by alcohol. Drunk driving goes by several different names depending on the laws of the state you’re in; you may call it driving under the influence, driving while intoxicated, or impaired driving. Despite the different names for it, the definition is the same throughout the United States: Drunk driving is when a person operates a motor vehicle while exceeding the legal blood-alcohol limit. For drivers under 21, it’s a crime to have any alcohol in their system behind the wheel, while for those who are legally allowed to drink, the legal limit is a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.08%. Some states may also have harsher sentences for people who have especially high BACs, multiple convictions, or minors in the car while they’re driving drunk.
Drinking and Driving Statistics
- On average, since 1982, 28 people have died in the United States in drunk-driving-related car accidents every day. That’s an average of one person every 52 minutes.
- Multiple programs have been instituted to decrease alcohol-related deaths on the road, and they have begun to pay off. Another contributor to the decrease in drunk driving accidents has been the rise of ride-sharing services, which have expanded the options for safe rides home.
- Aside from death by impaired driving, a staggering number of injuries occur every day in the United States that are associated with drinking and driving, averaging out to one every 2 minutes.
- Most drunk driving accidents are caused by hardcore drunk drivers with high BACs. They account for nearly 70% of drunk driving fatalities. This has remained true for decades.
- Often, drunk drivers will not get caught the first time they drive under the influence. In fact, the average drunk driver will repeat this behavior 80 times or more before getting caught, and often, they’re caught because they were in a car accident.
- It’s easy to assume that everybody who drives under the influence is some sort of hardened criminal, but the truth is that a surprisingly large number of people do it. Most people claim that they didn’t think they were that drunk and they felt OK to drive. In fact, that’s one of the main reasons people get behind the wheel after a night of drinking.
- Alcohol is involved in about 40% of all fatal car crashes in the United States.
- Kids who start drinking before they turn 15 are six times more likely to develop alcohol dependence in life, and they are less likely to wear seat belts, which is a common denominator in fatal accidents.
- More than half of people who have had their license revoked after being caught driving under the influence will still continue to drive without their license and will likely drive intoxicated again.
- A quarter of car crashes with teens involve an underage drunk driver.
- Two in three people, on average, will be in a drunk driving accident in their lifetime.
Risks and Consequences of Drunk Driving
- The most common consequence of drunk driving is having your driver’s license suspended or revoked. The amount of time you will have to go without driving privileges depends on the specific charges brought against you and the laws of the state you are convicted in.
- Imprisonment is also possible in some cases of driving while intoxicated, especially if it is not your first DWI violation.
- If you’ve been arrested on a DWI charge, the police could choose to immediately impound your vehicle. Even if you have a good lawyer, getting your vehicle back will likely require you to pay towing and impound lot fees.
- Vehicle registration suspension and license plate confiscation are other ways that authorities can suspend vehicle use for driving under the influence.
- In some states, repeat DUI offenders may have to have an ignition interlock device (IID) installed on their vehicle. This device requires the driver to blow into it to prove that they are not intoxicated in order to be able to start their car.
- A DWI offender may be subjected to a drug or alcohol evaluation, which is an in-depth look into the scale of a person’s substance use in order to paint a picture of their drug and alcohol history and potentially make a diagnosis or recommendations for treatment.
- If a person has multiple DWI offenses and has undergone a drug or alcohol evaluation, they may be required to enter an alcohol abuse treatment program.
- People who are at high risk of another DUI charge may be required to wear a SCRAM unit. This stands for Secure Continuous Remote Alcohol Monitoring, and it provides 24/7 monitoring of the wearer’s alcohol consumption over a set period of time. The offender wears an ankle or wrist monitor that detects alcohol levels in their perspiration every 30 minutes and is highly accurate. The cost of these units is somewhat pricey, including a $100 installation fee as well as a daily monitoring fee, meaning that the offender will have to pay several hundred dollars a month.