December is National Drunk and Drugged Driving Prevention Month

December is National Drunk and Drugged Driving Prevention Month (3D Month) by Presidential Proclamation. Although thousands of people die or are injured in alcohol-related motor vehicle crashes each year in the United States, effective measures to prevent these deaths and injuries do exist.

Quick Facts about Drunk and Drugged Driving

• In 2005, 16,885 people died in alcohol-related motor vehicle crashes, accounting for 39% of all traffic-related deaths in the United States.¹

• An alcohol-related motor vehicle crash kills someone every 31 minutes and nonfatally injures someone every two minutes.¹

• Drugs other than alcohol (e.g., marijuana and cocaine) are involved in about 18% of motor vehicle driver deaths. These other drugs are generally used in combination with alcohol.²

• Each year, alcohol-related crashes in the United States cost about $51 billion.³

• Most drinking and driving episodes go undetected. In 2005, nearly 1.4 million drivers were arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol or narcotics.⁴ That's less than one percent of the 159 million self-reported episodes of alcohol–impaired driving among US adults each year.⁵

• There are actions that work to prevent injuries due to impaired driving. To further decrease alcohol-related fatal crashes, communities need to implement and enforce strategies that are known to be effective, such as:

• Sobriety checkpoints. Fatal crashes thought to involve alcohol dropped a median of 22% (with random breath testing) and 23% (with selective breath testing) following implementation of sobriety checkpoints.⁶

• 0.08% BAC laws. Fatal alcohol-related crashes showed a median decrease of 7% following the implementation of 0.08% BAC laws in 16 states.⁷

• Minimum legal drinking age (MLDA) laws. Raising the MLDA, such as from 18 to 21, decreases crash-related outcomes a median of 16% for the targeted age groups.⁸

• "Zero tolerance" laws for young drivers. One study found that fatal crash outcomes decreased 24% after implementation of "zero tolerance" laws.⁹

For more facts, see CDC 's impaired driving fact sheet. Information is also available in Spanish.

References

¹ Dept of Transportation (US), National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Traffic safety facts 2005: alcohol. Washington (DC): NHTSA; 2006 [cited 2006 Oct 3]. Available from: http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/pdf/nrd-30/NCSA/TSF2005/AlcoholTSF05.pdf.

² Jones RK, Shinar D, Walsh JM. State of knowledge of drug-impaired driving. Dept of Transportation (US), National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA); 2003. Report DOT HS 809 642.

³ Blincoe L, Seay A, Zaloshnja E, Miller T, Romano E, Luchter S, et al. The economic impact of motor vehicle crashes, 2000. Washington (DC): Dept of Transportation (US), National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA); 2002. Available from URL: http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/people/economic/econimpact2000/index.htm.

⁴ Department of Justice (US), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Crime in the United States 2005: Uniform Crime Reports. Washington (DC): FBI; 2005 [cited 2006 Nov 3]. Available from URL: http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/05cius/index.html

⁵ Quinlan KP, Brewer RD, Siegel P, Sleet DA, Mokdad AH, Shults RA, Flowers N. Alcohol-impaired driving among U.S. adults, 1993-2002. American Journal of Preventive Medicine 2005;28(4):345-350.

⁶ Elder RW, Shults RA, Sleet DA, et al. Effectiveness of sobriety checkpoints for reducing alcohol-involved crashes. Traffic Injury Prevention 2002;3:266-74.

⁷ Howat P, Sleet DA, Elder R, Maycock B. Preventing alcohol-related traffic injury: a health promotion approach. Traffic Injury Prevention 2004;5(3):208-19.

⁸ Shults RA, Elder RW, Sleet DA, Nichols JL, Alao MA, Carande-Kulis VG, et al. Reviews of evidence regarding interventions to reduce alcohol-impaired driving [published erratum appears in Am J Prev Med 2002;23:72]. American Journal of Preventive Medicine 2001;21(4S):66-88.

⁹ Shults RA, Sleet DA, Elder RW, Ryan GW, Sehgal M. Association between state-level drinking and driving countermeasures and self-reported alcohol-impaired driving. Injury Prevention 2002;8:106–10.