Drunk DrivingNational Drunk and Drugged Driving Month -- National Center forInjury Prevention and Control 3D Month Impaired Driving Fact Sheet December is National Drunk and Drugged Driving Prevention Month Impaired driving will affect one in three Americans during their lifetime. In 2004, 16,694 people died in alcohol-related motor vehicle crashes, accounting for 39% of all traffic-related deaths in the United States (NHTSA 2005). December is National Drunk and Drugged Driving Prevention Month (3D Month) by Presidential Proclamation . Quick Facts About Drunk and Drugged Driving An alcohol-related motor vehicle crash kills someone every 31 minutes and nonfatally injures someone every two minutes (NHTSA 2005). Drugs other than alcohol (e.g., marijuana and cocaine) are involved in about 18% of motor vehicle driver deaths. These other drugs are generally used in combination with alcohol (Jones et al. 2003). Each year, alcohol-related crashes in the United States cost about $51 billion (Blincoe et al. 2002). Most drinking and driving episodes go undetected. In 2004, about 1.4 million drivers were arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol or narcotics (Department of Justice, 2005). Thats less than one percent of the 159 million self-reported episodes of alcoholimpaired driving among U.S. adults each year (Quinlan et al. 2005). To further decrease alcohol-related fatal crashes, communities need to implement and enforce strategies that are known to be effective, such as sobriety checkpoints, 0.08% BAC laws, minimum legal drinking age laws, "zero tolerance" laws for young drivers, and others (Elder et al. 2002, Howat et al. 2004, Shults et al. 2001, Shults et al. 2002). For more facts , see CDC's alcohol-impaired driving fact sheet. References Blincoe L, Seay A, Zaloshnja E, Miller T, Romano E, Luchter S, et al. The economic impact of motor vehicle crashes, 2000. Washington (DC): Dept of Transportation (US), National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA); 2002. Available from URL: www.nhtsa.dot.gov/people/economic/econimpact2000/index.htm . Department of Justice (US), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Crime in the United States 2004: Uniform Crime Reports. Washington (DC): FBI; 2004 [cited November 15, 2005]. Available from URL: http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/cius_04/documents/CIUS2004.pdf . Elder RW, Shults RA, Sleet DA, et al. Effectiveness of sobriety checkpoints for reducing alcohol-involved crashes. Traffic Injury Prevention 2002;3:266-74. Howat P, Sleet DA, Elder R, Maycock B. Preventing alcohol-related traffic injury: a health promotion approach. Traffic Injury Prevention 2004;5(3):208-19. Jones RK, Shinar D, Walsh JM. State of knowledge of drug-impaired driving. Dept of Transportation (US), National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA); 2003. Report DOT HS 809 642. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) (2005). Traffic safety facts 2004: alcohol. Washington (DC): [cited 2005 Nov 6]. Available from URL: http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/pdf/nrd-30/NCSA/TSF2004/809905.pdf . Quinlan KP, Brewer RD, Siegel P, Sleet DA, Mokdad AH, Shults RA, Flowers N. Alcohol-impaired driving among U.S. adults, 1993-2002. American Journal of Preventive Medicine 2005;28(4):345-350. Shults RA, Elder RW, Sleet DA, Nichols JL, Alao MA, Carande-Kulis VG, et al. Reviews of evidence regarding interventions to reduce alcohol-impaired driving [published erratum appears in Am J Prev Med 2002;23:72]. American Journal of Preventive Medicine 2001;21(4S):66-88. Shults RA, Sleet DA, Elder RW, Ryan GW, Sehgal M. Association between state-level drinking and driving countermeasures and self-reported alcohol-impaired driving. Injury Prevention 2002;8:10610. Back to Top Disclaimer Some of these sites are not CDC sites. CDC is not responsible for the content of web pages found at links to such sites. Links to nonfederal organizations are provided solely as a service to our users. These links do not indicate an endorsement of these organizations by CDC or the federal government. Contact Information National Center for Injury Prevention and Control Mailstop K65 4770 Buford Highway NE Atlanta, GA 30341-3724 Phone: 770.488.1506 Fax: 770.488.1667 Email: OHCINFO@cdc.gov News | Facts | Data | Publications | Funding | Contact Us CDC Home | CDC Search | Health Topics A-Z Privacy Notice This page last reviewed 12/02/05 . Centers for Disease Control and Prevention National Center for Injury Prevention and Control
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