In 2016, crash fatalities that involved distracted driving made up 9 percent of total crash fatalities (NCSA, 2017a). This is equivalent to almost one-third of the number of alcohol-impaired driving crash fatalities during that year. Furthermore, research suggests that alcohol is an increasingly significant factor to account for in the growing number of fatalities involving distracted driving. From 1999 to 2008 the proportion of distracted drivers involved in a fatal crash who were also drinking alcohol while driving increased from 26 to 30.8 percent (Wilson et al., 2013).
- What follows is a brief description of how these processes affect BAC measurement and the consequences of BACs for driving.
- Innovation in vehicle safety technology is rapidly expanding, with a range of technologies recently emerging that provide lane departure warnings, forward collision warnings, side view assists, adaptive cruise control, and many other features.
- National surveys also reveal that males and people ages 21 to 45 are the most likely to drive after drinking.
Researchers estimated that in 2001 (the most recent year for which these estimates are available), underage and pathological drinking accounted for between 37.5 and 48.8 percent of consumer expenditures on alcohol (Foster et al., 2006). Thus, were the population to drink in a fully legal and nonpathological fashion, the industry could lose nearly half of its revenues, and the government would lose a large amount of its tax revenues as well. Trends in number of alcohol-related traffic fatalities for different age groups, 1982 through 2002. Sixteen- to 20-year-olds have had the greatest decline in alcohol-related traffic deaths since 1982, down 56 percent. Alcohol-related traffic deaths declined 47 percent among 21- to 29-year-olds and 37 percent among 30- to 45-year-olds.
Drinking And Driving Laws
Fewer police officers covering larger areas are less likely to arrest alcohol-impaired drivers (Vock, 2013). Additionally, alternative and public transportation options are far fewer in rural areas (Mattson, 2016; TRB, 2016) (see Chapter 4 for information on alternative and public transportation). Safety and upkeep of rural transportation https://ecosoberhouse.com/ infrastructure is similarly lacking (TRIP, 2017). Further analyses of that survey revealed that even after controlling for history of alcohol dependence, those who started drinking at younger ages were more likely to drink heavily (five or more drinks per occasion) with greater frequency (Hingson et al. 2000).
Choosing the right DUI lawyer may help you save your driver’s license and get your drunk driving charge reduced or even dismissed. Each year, states enact stronger DUI laws and more severe drunk driving penalties. You could lose your driver’s license, be placed in jail and fined substantial fees. Your car insurance rates may rise and you could end up with a criminal conviction on your record that could impact your future and your employment opportunities.
How Dangerous Is Drinking and Driving?
If you need financial aid in school, your application may only be successful if you have a clean record. Furthermore, schools and colleges routinely reject scholarship students with previous DUI offenses. As a result of one idiotic decision, your education and career plans could be ruined. Drunk driving is a one-way ticket to a dead-end job, a low-rent neighborhood and unfulfilled ambitions. In many jurisdictions, individuals must also demonstrate a significant drop in their BAC in order for them to be released on their own recognizance after being arrested for a DUI or related offense.
Policy makers developing intervention strategies need to consider the local context in terms of knowledge, beliefs, and resources available to residents. For example, calls for enhanced enforcement, such as additional sobriety checkpoints, are unlikely to be effective without added financial resources or personnel consequences of drinking and driving and, more importantly, compassion for and cultural sensitivity toward populations of racial or ethnic minorities. Furthermore, a media campaign that urges impaired drivers to take a taxi or another form of public transportation home would be ineffective in rural areas where these resources are not available.