Drunken Driving - The Battle Stalls

Pointing to newly released data from the U.S. Department of Transportation, the National Commission Against Drunk Driving (NCADD) says the battle against drinking and driving has stalled and needs a new jump-start.

The preliminary statistics for traffic fatalities in 2001 released last week by the DOT, show that the rate of highway deaths due to alcohol-related causes is virtually unchanged from the year 2000.

"The fight against drunk driving has simply stalled, and it's time to jump-start it," said NCADD Chairman Robert Stempel in a news release. "Each year since 1994, alcohol-related traffic deaths have hovered between 16,000 and 17,000, while the percentage of highway deaths that have been alcohol-related has stagnated at about 40 percent."

"This unrelenting epidemic of death and disabling injury on our highways is totally unacceptable," said John Moulden, the President of the NCADD. "We need renewed political leadership and action at the federal level and in every state and community if we are serious about curbing this most frequent violent crime. NCADD's members and supporters are eager to work with our government leaders and all concerned citizens to re-engage the nation once again in bringing down the drunk driving death toll."

Deadly Trends

The DOT's preliminary stats for 2001 show the following trends:

• The percentage of traffic deaths that were alcohol-related in 2001 remained unchanged at 40 percent -- 16,652 deaths -- only one less death than in 2000.
  
  
• The number of total highway deaths were an estimated 41,730 in 2001, compared to 41,821 in 2000.
  
  
• The number of total traffic injuries dropped from 3.2 million in 2000 to 3.0 million in 2001.
  
  
• The death rate per 100 million vehicle miles remained statistically the same: 1.50 in 2001, as compared to the 2000 rate of 1.52.
  
  
• An estimated 600,000 people are injured each year in alcohol-related crashes.
  
  
• At the current level of drunk driving in the U.S., about three in every ten Americans will be involved in an alcohol-related crash in their lifetimes, according to U.S. DOT.
  
  

Last year, the NCADD sponsored a National Town Hall Meeting on Drunk Driving to identify actions needed to regain the momentum in the fight against drunk driving, which saw a dramatic 35 percent drop in deaths from 1982 until the stagnation started in 1994. Those recommendations included stronger leadership and support by national, state and local government officials, and increased citizen involvement to apply political pressure on government leaders make the fight against drunk driving a top priority.

The complete report of recommendations from NCADD's National Town Hall Meeting on Drunk Driving is available on the NCADD web site.