What defenses are there in a DUI case

About three in every ten Americans will be involved in an alcohol-related crash at some time in their lives. (NHTSA, NCSA, 1999)

Alcohol Traffic Safety Facts

Despite being totally preventable, impaired driving crashes figure prominently in overall traffic crash data and produce devastating consequences on America’s roads. Consider the following:

About three out every 10 Americans will be involved in an alcohol-related crash at some point in their lives.¹

There were 16,653 alcohol-related traffic fatalities in 2000—four percent more than in 1999 but 25 less than in 1990, when alcohol-related fatalities numbered 22,084.²

Fatalities in alcohol-related crashes accounted for 40 percent of all traffic fatalities in 2000—an average of one alcohol-related fatality every 32 minutes.³

An estimated 310,000 people suffered injuries in crashes in which police reported that alcohol was present—an average of one person injured every 2 minutes.⁴

Approximately 1.5 million arrests were made in 1999 for driving under the influence of alcohol or narcotics. This equates to one out of every 121 licensed drivers in the US.⁵

In 2000, 31 percent of all traffic fatalities occurred in crashes in which at least one driver or non-occupant had a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of .10 or higher.⁶

The rate of alcohol involvement in fatal crashes is more than three times higher at night (61 percent) than during the day (18 percent). For all crashes, the rate of alcohol involvement is four times as high at night (17 percent) than during the day (4 percent).⁷

More than half (53 percent) of all fatal crashes that occurred on weekends in 2000 were alcohol-related, compared to 30 percent during the week.⁸

The highest intoxication rates in fatal crashes during 2000 were recorded for drivers ages 21-24 (27 percent), followed by ages 25-34 (24 percent) and 35-44 (22 percent).⁹

Chronic drunk drivers represent only one percent of all weekend drivers; however, they are involved in nearly 50 percent of all fatal crashes occurring on weekends.¹⁰

About one-third of all drivers arrested or convicted of driving while intoxicated or driving under the influence of alcohol (DWI/DUI) are repeat offenders.¹¹

Just one alcohol-related fatality costs society an estimated $950,000. Each alcohol-related injury costs an estimated $20,000.¹²

No one is safe when it comes to impaired driving—an alarming 68 percent of children killed in alcohol-related crashes were riding in a car with a drinking driver.¹³

Calendar Year	Total Killed in Alcohol Related Crashes		Total Killed in All Traffic Crashes
Calendar Year	Number	Percent	Number	Percent
1982	25,1565	57.3%	43,945	100.0%
1983	23,646	55.5%	42,589	100.0%
1984	23,758	53.7%	44,257	100.0%
1985	22,716	51.8%	43,825	100.0%
1986	24,045	52.2%	46,087	100.0%
1987	23,641	51.0%	46,390	100.0%
1988	23,626	50.2%	47,087	100.0%
1989	22,404	49.2%	45,582	100.0%
1990	22,084	49.5%	44,599	100.0%
1991	19,887	47.9%	41,508	100.0%
1992	17,858	45.5%	39,250	100.0%
1993	17,473	43.5%	40,150	100.0%
1994	16,580	40.7%	40,716	100.0%
1995	17,247	41.2%	41,817	100.0%
1996	17,218	40.9%	42,065	100.0%
1997	16,485	38.6%	42,013	100.0%
1998	16,020	38.6%	41,501	100.0%
1999	15,976	38.3%	41,717	100.0%
2000	16,653	39.8%	41,821	100.0%

* Source - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration FARS Data

Endnotes:

¹ National Highway Transportation Safety Administration. (2001). Traffic Safety Facts 2000, Alcohol. Washington, DC: US Department of Transportation.
²Ibid.
³Ibid.
⁴Ibid.
⁵Ibid.
⁶Ibid.
⁷Ibid.
⁸Ibid.
⁹Ibid.
¹⁰National Commission Against Drunk Driving (NCADD) Web site.
¹¹National Highway Transportation Safety Administration. (January 2000). State Legislative Fact Sheet, Repeat Intoxicated Driver Laws. Washington, DC: US Department of Transportation.
¹²National Highway Transportation Safety Administration. (April 2001). Setting Limits, Saving Lives: The Case for ,08 BAC Laws. Washington, DC: US Department of Transportation.
¹³Mothers Against Drunk Driving. (Fall 2000). “Precious Cargo.” Driven Magazine. Irving, Texas.