Drinking and Driving Facts

One of the most preventable crimes in the world today is drinking and driving, or driving under the influence of alcohol (DUI) as it is normally called. When a person consumes alcohol, then it invariably affects the person's sense of judgment and motor skills - both which are required while driving. It is heart wrenching to see how many innocent lives are victims to drunk driving. If one were to formulate a drunk driving fact sheet, it would speak of alarming figures when it comes to drinking and driving. Given below are some adult and teen DUI facts that are bound to act as an eye-opener for people that think the biggest risk involved with drinking and driving is spilling the drink on yourself.

Drunk Driving Facts and Statistics

• It is estimated that around 20% of the American population will be directly or indirectly involved with an alcohol related motor vehicle crash at some or the other time in their life.
• Impaired driving, which may or may not be alcohol induced, is one of the most common intentional crimes committed by Americans and is responsible for causing one death in a little under one hour.
• Every two minutes, one person is injured somewhere in the U.S. due to an alcohol related accident.
• According to facts, fatal motorcycle and car crashes involving drunk driver are four times more likely to occur at night when compared to the day.
• The loss caused due to alcohol related accidents is not merely restricted to the bones and lives of the driver and the pedestrian involved. If you were to analyze facts, then one of the drunk driving consequences is that alcohol related crashes costs lead to a loss of a staggering USD 73 billion on a yearly basis!
• One of the disturbing DUI facts is that in the year 2008, it was noted that almost one-third of drivers (an estimated thirty-two percent) that were involved in an alcohol related car crash had been drinking and driving.
• One-third is an unlucky figure when it comes to drinking and driving facts and statistics for one more reason - around a third of fatal crashes that involved a car driver or a motorcycle rider impaired due to alcohol has a blood alcohol concentration more than .08.
• According to drinking and driving statistics, a person who has a blood alcohol concentration of .10 or more is almost seven times more likely to be involved in a vehicle accident due to drunk driving as against a person who has not consumed any alcoholic beverage at all. Also, a person with a blood alcohol concentration of .15 twenty-five times more likely to get involved in a fatal accident with his motor vehicle due to driving under the influence of alcohol.

The facts about under age drinking and driving may seem appalling but the figures however do seem encouraging off late, as the government has tried to crack down on cases of drunk driving and the laws have been made stricter, like the acceptable blood alcohol levels has been brought down from .10 to .08. Also, a zero tolerance approach has been put into place and stern action is being taken against people that are involved in drunk driving. Due to the efforts and concerns of many social groups, the legal drinking age is now set at twenty-one which has significantly reduced the teenage drinking and driving cases. However, all of these laws and bindings will prove to be futile unless and until people wake up to the fact of responsible drinking. You need to ensure that if you go for a party in a group, then one person who is appointed as the driver does not drink to ensure driving safety. Also, never be tempted by alcohol and assume that a few drinks won't do you any harm because alcohol is alcohol and a drink is a drink - so even the slightest presence of alcohol in your bloodstream is bound to affect your driving and judgment skills. Moral of the story - don't drink and drive... but only if you care enough about yourself, your family and your friends.