Alcohol-Related Crash Facts

Crash Facts

2003 ALCOHOL-RELATED CRASH FACTS

In Illinois, there were 639 people killed in alcohol-related crashes, which is 44.0 percent of the 1,453 total motor vehicle crash fatalities.
Nationally, 17,013 lives were lost in alcohol-related crashes. This is the equivalent of:
- one alcohol-related fatality every 31 minutes
- one alcohol-related injury every 2 minutes
40% of the fatal traffic crashes were alcohol-related.
The greatest single cause of death for people between the ages of 2 and 33 is traffic crashes.(NHTSA Overview Fact Sheet, page 2)
49 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico have .08 BAC per se laws. The State of Minnesota will be final state to adopt a .08 BAC per se law on August 1, 2005.
Approximately 1.5 million drivers were arrested in 2003 for driving under the influence of alcohol or narcotics. This is one in every 130 licensed drivers in the United States.
69 percent of all fatal crashes had at least one driver or non-occupant with a blood alcohol content (BAC) of .08 or greater.