Correction: Wednesday, February 15, 2024, 9:27 a.m. ET: A previous headline stated “Just Two States Make Up 40 Percent Of Fatal Drunk Driving Crashes In U.S.” This headline is an incorrect interpretation of the data, and has been updated.
Drunk driving is a dangerous scourge on American streets, causing untold trauma and grief for those who have lost loved ones. According to the NHTSA, drunk driving kills 37 people every single day in the United States. About 31 percent of all traffic fatalities nationwide involve drunk drivers, but there are a few places helping to bring that average up. Texas and Connecticut are pulling more than their fair share of drunk driving fatalities, as a recent study shows 40.8 percent of all fatal car crashes in those states involved drunk drivers.
It gets worse, because more than half of drunk driving crashes—in essentially every state—saw drivers register blood alcohol content levels over 0.15. It’s worth noting that these numbers are only including people who tested above the legal limit. Other fatal crashes are bound to have occurred involving drivers with a BAC level above zero and below 0.08.
The study claims that Rhode Island, Montana, and Washington were also well above average in terms of drunk drivers involved in fatal accidents. The states with the lowest percentages were Utah, Kentucky, Kansas, Mississippi, and West Virginia. It’s difficult to definitively say exactly what might cause one state to score worse alcohol fatality numbers than another, but population density, law enforcement, road condition, weather, and cultural differences can be part of an elaborate explanation. Some states will have more traffic fatalities than others, giving alcohol less of a percentage impact, regardless of its societal impact.
As a country we’re making some commendable progress on drunk driving crackdowns. It is estimated that in 1980, with significantly fewer humans and cars on America’s roadways, drunk drivers killed 28,000 people. Thanks to crackdowns over nearly two decades, that number reduced to 16,189 by 1997, and is under 12,000 on average today. We still have a long way to go to continue reducing that number toward zero.
Every 39 minutes someone is killed by drunk driving. Do what you can to avoid adding more bodies to the pile.