In 2020, 11,654 people died in alcohol-impaired driving crashes, according to data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. That means one person was killed every 45 minutes in a drunk-driving crash in the United States. It’s also a 14% increase from 2019.
In Tennessee, 27% of fatal crashes involved alcohol-impaired driving.
Alcohol consumption impairs your thinking, reasoning and muscle coordination — all vital to operating a vehicle safely. You begin to feel the effects of alcohol at a BAC under .08.
In alcohol-impaired driving deaths in 2020, 20% involved someone with BACs of .15 g/dL or higher.
Research shows that many people think anti-drunk messages are targeted at overtly drunk drivers, and not at them. Thus, when decision time came, they would consider themselves merely “buzzed” and get behind the wheel.
Even a small amount of alcohol can affect driving ability. In 2020, there were 2,041 people killed in alcohol-related crashes where a driver had a BAC of .01 to .07, according to NHTSA data.
Since 2005, nearly 70% of Americans say they have tried to stop someone from driving after drinking.
Drunk drivers face jail time when they’re caught, and the financial impact is devastating. On average, a DUI can set you back $10,000 in attorney’s fees, fines, court costs, lost time at work, higher insurance rates, car towing, and more.
The annual cost of alcohol-related crashes totals more than $44 billion. These costs represent the tangible losses that result from motor vehicle traffic crashes.
