Drunk driving is a worldwide problem, here in the United States we have seen far too many lives impacted by this preventable issue. Drunk driving accidents is the number one killer of teenagers in the United States. Drunk driving statistics are quite scary when looked at solely as numbers. When you realize the amount of lives destroyed by this problem, those drunk driving statistics become heart breaking.
In the past 20 years, considerable progress has been made in reducing alcohol impaired driving in many developed countries. This progress, however, has been uneven. In some cases, progress has been stalled or even eroded. In other cases it has continued. Analysis of these trends provides information regarding the strategies that have been most effective in bringing about progress and the problems that have impeded progress.
In 2012, 10,322 people were killed and approximately 345,000 were injured. Every single one of these crashes effects more than just the people involved in the accident. They affect the families, the friends, the towns and the schools in which these preventable accidents occurred. Many of us probably personally know someone who was involved in a drunk driving accident. Usually coverage of an accident is just a blip on the afternoon news, but for far too many people these accidents will change their lives forever. Even those who have not been directly touched help pay the $132 billion yearly price tag of drunk driving.
On average someone dies due to a drunk driver every 51 minutes in the United States, every 90 seconds someone is injured; these are scary drunk driving statistics. If you read at the average speed by the time you finish this sentence one person has been physically injured by a drunk driver. Teens make up for a large number of these deaths, making up almost 40% of them.
Most of these accidents are occurring at night time for obvious reasons, most of these accidents occur between 9pm-6am. Men are 2x as likely to be behind the wheel in an accident associated with drunk driving. Most men who are involved in drunk driving are between ages of 25-35.
Someone with a BAC (blood alcohol content) over the legal limit as compared to someone with a BAC of zero is 385 times more likely to be involved in an accident. The average BAC of a drunk driver involved in an accident in is .18, that’s almost double what the legal limit is in the United States.
With drunk driving statistics like this why do millions of Americans choose to get behind the wheel and drive when the chances of the hurting and killing someone are so high? Many people understand the risks behind drunk driving but once alcohol has become part of their system it will lower one’s ability to make smart choices.
These drunk driving statistics don’t need to be the way they are. Nationwide education isn’t the answer, most people understand the risks of drunk driving but think they can successfully do it anyway. More restrictions need to put in place to help reduce the number of people who are being affected.
Please call Recovery Society today if you or a loved one are struggling with alcoholism. 1-866-527-5252
