DUI/Alcohol Statistics Update - August, 1999

(All Statistics are for Calendar Year 1998 Unless Noted)

• General DUI Statistics - United States (1998, 1997)
• General DUI Statistics - California (1997, 1996)
• General DUI Statistics - Orange County (1998, 1997)
• DUI Victims, Orange County (1987 - 1998)
• DUI Arrests Per Victim, Orange County (1990 - 1998)

1998 - Total alcohol-related traffic fatalities - 15,936

Compare to: 1982 - 24,103 alcohol-related deaths (57.3% of 42,065 total deaths)

1998 had 33.8% fewer alcohol-related fatalities than 1982

1997 - Percentage of drivers who died with a blood alcohol level of .10% or above, by age:

• 16-20 years - 26%
• 21-30 years - 43%
• 31-40 years - 46%
• 41-50 years - 36%
• 51-60 years - 22%
• > 60 years - 8%

1997 - 2% of big rig drivers who died had a blood alcohol level of .10% or above.

1997 - 47% of deaths in single-vehicle motorcycle crashes involved motorcycle drivers with blood alcohol levels of .10% or above.

1997 - 34% of all pedestrians over age 16 who died had blood alcohol levels of .10% or above.

At night the percentage rose to 51%.

1997 - 62% of drivers and passengers who died were not wearing a seatbelt!

California  (1997)

1997 - Killed in alcohol-involved collisions - 1,100 (30% of total fatalities)

• One fatality every 8 hours.

Injured in alcohol-involved collisions - 31,189

• 85 injuries every day
• One injury every 17 minutes

Statistically, one of every 1,003 Calif. residents was injured or killed by an impaired driver.

1997 - # of licensed drivers - 20,487,400

Statistically, 1% of Calif. drivers are arrested for DUI annually.

1996 - # of DUI arrests - 203,794

• 558 arrests per day
• 23 arrests per hour
• One arrest every 2.6 minutes

Orange County, CA (1998, 1997)

1998 - 43 collisions resulted in 44 alcohol-related fatalities (28% of total 157 traffic fatalities)

• One death every 8.3 days

    1,374 alcohol-involved injury collisions resulted in 2,043 injuries

• 5.6 injuries per day
• One injury every 4 hours and 17 minutes.

    DUI arrests - 14,686 (40.2/day)

1997 - Licensed drivers - 1,828,300 (one arrest for every 124 drivers)

Page updated: August 13, 2005

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