Alcohol Caused Crashes & Deaths

• Car crashes are the leading cause of death for teens, and about a quarter of those crashes involve an underage drinking driver.

• Every two minutes, a person is injured in a drunk driving crash.

• An average drunk driver has driven drunk 80 times before first arrest. 50 to 75 % of convicted drunk drivers continue to drive on a suspended license.

• On average, two in three people will be involved in a drunk driving crash in their lifetime.

• In 2013, 10,076 people died in drunk driving crashes - one every 52 minutes - and 290,000 were injured in drunk driving crashes.

• Every day in America, another 28 people die as a result of drunk driving crashes.

• Each day, people drive drunk almost 300,000 times, but fewer than 4,000 are arrested.

• In 2012, 29.1 million people admitted to driving under the influence of alcohol - that’s more than the population of Texas.

• Over 1.2 million drivers were arrested in 2011 for driving under the influence of alcohol or narcotics.

• Almost half of all drivers who were killed in crashes and tested positive for drugs also had alcohol in their system.

• About one-third of all drivers arrested or convicted of drunk driving are repeat offenders.

• The rate of drunk driving is highest among 21 to 25 year olds (23.4 percent).

• Drunk driving costs the united states $199 billion a year.

*This information was taken from MADD.org. Their sources were: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Centers for Disease Control, Transportation Research Board, American Journal of Public Health, Federal Bureau of Investigation, National Institute of Health, National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Department of Transportation, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, National Survey on Drug Use and Health.

Alcohol a Factor in Many Serious Family Problems

• Alcoholism and Problem Drinking Pervasive in Family Life More than half of adults have a close family member who has had alcoholism or is still dealing with alcoholism.

• Approximately one in four children younger than 18 is exposed to alcoholism or problem drinking in the family.

• Separated and divorced men and women are three times as likely to say their spouse was alcoholic or had a drinking problem than men and women who are still married.

• Some 75 percent of husbands or wives who abuse their spouses have been drinking prior to or at the time of the abuse.

• Women who have heavy drinking husbands or partners are at higher risk for developing their own drinking problems.

• Each year between 1,200 and 8,800 babies are born with the physical signs and intellectual disabilities associated with fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS), and thousands more experience the somewhat lesser disabilities of fetal alcohol effects. FAS is the leading preventable cause of mental retardation in the United States.

• Children of alcoholics are at high risk for developing problems with alcohol and other drugs; they often do poorly at school, live with pervasive tension and stress, have high levels of anxiety and depression and experience coping problems.

Underage Drinking Challenges American Youth

• First use of alcohol typically begins around age 13. By their senior year, 64 percent of high school students say they have been drunk at least once; 33 percent say they have been drunk in the past month.

• Among teenagers between the ages of 12 and 17 who say they drink heavily (five or more drinks on five or more occasions in the past month); 77 percent had at least one serious problem related to drinking in the past year; 63 percent had built up tolerance to the effects of alcohol; 20 percent reported psychological problems related to their drinking; 12 percent reported health problems related to their drinking.

• Teenagers who drink heavily are more likely to cut class or skip school, perform poorly in school, take sexual risks, and commit suicide.

• Heavy drinking increases the likelihood of delinquent and violent behavior including running away from home, fighting, vandalizing property, stealing and getting arrested.

• Even in families where alcoholism isn’t present, permissive attitudes about alcohol can have a profound impact on youth. Though far more kids drink than use illicit drugs, parents are more likely to excuse getting drunk as a “rite of passage.” Unless a car is involved, some just don’t take it seriously.

• Parents who drink and who have favorable attitudes about alcohol encourage children to start drinking and to keep drinking.

• Drinking by older siblings can influence the alcohol use of younger siblings, particularly for same-sex siblings.

Sources: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, Journal of Studies on Alcohol, Bureau of Justice Statistics, National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Council on Alcoholism and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, “Youth and Underage Drinking