The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimates 17,602 people were killed in alcohol-related traffic crashes in 2006 (the latest available data), accounting for 41% of the total traffic fatalities for the year.
Alcohol-related traffic fatalities remained relatively unchanged, increasing 0.1 percent, from 17,590 in 2005 to 17,602 in 2006. Overall, alcohol-related traffic fatalities have declined 33% from 1982 when NHTSA first began keeping these statistics. Among youths under 21, 2,642 died in alcohol-related traffic crashes, an increase of nearly 2 percent from last year, and down 59 percent from the record high in 1982.
In fatal crashes that involved at least one driver or motorcycle operator with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of .08 or higher, 13,470 people were killed in 2006, including 2,031 youth under 21.
Blood Alcohol Education
According to a December 2001 survey commissioned by The Century Council, 77% of Americans say that they have received enough information about drinking and driving — yet an alarming 72% of all Americans do not know their state's blood alcohol concentration for driving.
The Council continues to promote the Blood Alcohol Educator
(BAE), an informative, interactive program that can be found on
CD-ROM or online at
www.b4udrink.org. This educational
CD-ROM program is available in both Spanish and English.
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| The BAE Cybervan |
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The Blood Alcohol Educator was created to increase awareness among legal drinking age adults concerning their state's Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) laws and how drinking affects their individual BAC.
By entering your sex, weight, number and type of drinks consumed, you can quickly learn about how alcohol affects your Blood Alcohol Concentration. The Blood Alcohol Educator program also tells users the legal blood alcohol concentration limit for driving in their state. visit the website
Hardcore Drunk Driving
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58 percent of alcohol-related traffic fatalities in 2006 involved drivers with a blood alcohol concentration of .15 or above
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Although much progress has been made at reducing alcohol-related traffic fatalities, 58% of the alcohol-related traffic fatalities in 2006 involved drivers with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of .15 or above. In fact, data shows that drivers with a BAC of .15 or above are 385 times more likely to be involved in a fatal crash than the average non-drinker. Furthermore, in 2006, about 7 percent of all drivers with a BAC of .08 or higher had a prior DWI conviction within the past three years.
The Century Council created The National Hardcore Drunk Driver Project in 1997 in response to the reality that repeat offenders and those driving with BAC levels of .15 and above, or hardcore drunk drivers, are among the most dangerous drivers on our nation's roads and highways. As part of the Project, the Council released a sourcebook titled Combating Hardcore Drunk Driving, which was the first traffic safety community effort to provide a single, comprehensive resource to assist in reducing fatalities, injuries, and crashes caused by hardcore drunk drivers. Building on this base, in 2003 an updated edition of the sourcebook and the state profiles was released and are available online at www.dwidata.org. Also available is the latest research findings from an initiative between the Council and the National Drug Court Institute which provides a revealing look at hardcore drunk drivers’ attitudes toward being caught, convicted, and sanctioned, including insights into the sanctions and interventions needed to continue the fight to eliminate hardcore drunk drivers from our nation’s roadways.
Facts and Statistics
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