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DUI
Facts: Impaired Driving
Overview
Impaired driving will affect one in three Americans during their
lifetimes (NHTSA 2003a).
Occurrence and Consequences
Alcohol-related motor vehicle crashes kill someone every 30
minutes and nonfatally injure someone every two minutes(NHTSA
2003a).
During 2002, 17,419 people in the U.S.
died in alcohol-related motor vehicle crashes, representing
41% of all traffic-related deaths (NHTSA 2003a).
In 2001, more than 1.4 million drivers were arrested for driving
under the influence of alcohol or narcotics (FBI 2001). That's
slightly more than 1 percent of the 120 million self-reported
episodes of alcohol-impaired driving among U.S. adults each year
(Dellinger 1999).
Drugs other than alcohol (e.g., marijuana and cocaine) have
been identified as factors in 18% of motor vehicle driver deaths.
Other drugs are generally used in combination with alcohol (NHTSA
1993).
Nearly two-thirds of children under 15 who died in alcohol-related
crashes between 1985 and 1996 were riding with the drinking driver.
More than two-thirds of the drinking drivers were old enough to
be the parent of the child who was killed, and fewer than 20%
of the children killed were properly restrained at the time of
the crash (Quinlan 2000).
Cost
In its publication The Economic Impact of Motor Vehicle Crashes,
the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported that
alcohol-related crashes in 2000 were associated with more than $51
billion in total costs (Blincoe 2002).
Groups at Risk
Male drivers involved in fatal motor vehicle crashes are almost
twice as likely as female drivers to be intoxicated with a blood
alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.10% or greater (NHTSA 2003a).
A BAC of 0.08% is equal to or greater than the legal
limit in most states.
At all levels of blood alcohol concentration, the risk of being
involved in a crash is greater for young people than it is for
older people (Mayhew 1986). In 2002, 24%
of drivers ages 15 to 20 who died in motor vehicle crashes had
been drinking alcohol (NHTSA 2003b).
Young men ages 18 to 20 (too young to buy alcohol legally)
report driving while impaired almost as frequently as men ages
21 to 34 (Liu 1997).
In 2002, 22% of the 2,197 traffic fatalities among children
ages 0 to 14 years involved alcohol (NHTSA 2003c).
Risk Factors
Adult drivers ages 35 and older who have been arrested for impaired
driving are 11 to 12 times more likely than those who have never
been arrested to die eventually in crashes involving alcohol (Brewer
1994).
Nearly three quarters of drivers convicted of driving while
impaired are either frequent heavy drinkers (alcohol abusers)
or alcoholics (people who are alcohol dependent) (Miller 1986).
Aggravated Vehicular Homicide (while driving intoxicated)
One state defines this as Class A Felony If any of the following conditions are present: Two or more prior (a) DUI convictions or Vehicular or (b) Vehicular Assault convictions or (c) any combination One prior Vehicular Homicide A BAC of .20 or greater at the time of the vehicular homicide and has one (1) prior DUI or Vehicular Assault offense
Newsroom
News about DUI & Drunk Driving cases in New Mexico and nationwide:
State Dot Promotes Youth Traffic Safety
HONOLULU — With the summer in full swing and the 4th of July holiday weekend approaching, the state Department of Transportation continues to empha... Read more >
Definition:
A state of drunkenness in which a person is so far deprived of reason and understanding that he or she is incapable of understanding the character and consequences of an act.
Drunk
Definition:
Intoxication as we know it is not required for one to be guilty of drunk driving. Your condition may be enough for you to be found guilty of a drunk driving offense under the current definition of the law.
Public Intoxication
Definition:
Public intoxication is the appearance of a person who is under the influence of drugs or alcohol in a place open to the general public. In most American jurisdictions, public intoxication is considered a misdemeanor
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