Sobering Facts

Every day, 28 people in the United States die in motor vehicle crashes that involve an alcohol-impaired driver. This is one death every 51 minutes.  The annual cost of alcohol-related crashes totals more than $44 billion.

Thankfully, there are effective measures that can help prevent injuries and deaths from alcohol-impaired driving.

Motor vehicle crashes are a leading cause of injury and death in the U.S., and because many proven prevention strategies occur on the state-level, it can be helpful to see things broken down by state.

Find state-specific fact sheets below that provide a snapshot of alcohol-involved deaths and drunk driving and an overview of proven strategies to reduce or prevent drunk driving. View and download data, and identify strategies to help keep people safe on the road – every day.

About one in three traffic deaths in the United States involve a driver with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.08% or higher. Drivers with a BAC of 0.08% or higher (i.e., drunk drivers) are considered alcohol-impaired by law. Thanks to dedicated efforts, rates of drunk driving and alcohol-related fatal crashes have gone down in recent years. Still, drunk drivers got behind the wheel about 121 million times in 2012. Learn more about effective interventions for reducing and preventing drunk driving.