Traffic
Safety Facts 2000 ( Alcohol)
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) defines a fatal traffic crash as being alcohol-related if either a driver or a
non-occupant (e.g., pedestrian) had a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.01 grams per
deciliter (g/dl) or greater in a police-reported traffic crash. Persons with a BAC of 0.10 g/dl or greater involved in fatal crashes are considered to be intoxicated.
This is the legal limit of intoxication in most states. 
Traffic fatalities in alcohol-related crashes rose by 4 percent from 1999 to 2000.
The 16,653 alcohol-related fatalities in 2000 (40 percent of total traffic fatalities for the year) represent a 25 percent reduction from the 22,084 alcohol-related fatalities reported in 1990 (50 percent of the total).
NHTSA estimates that alcohol was involved in 40 percent of fatal crashes and in 8 percent of all crashes in 2000.
The 16,653 fatalities in alcohol-related crashes during 2000 represent an average of
one alcohol-related fatality every 32 minutes.
An estimated 3 1 0,000 persons were injured in crashes where police reported that alcohol was present -
an average of one person injured approximately every 2 minutes.
Approximately 1.5 million drivers were arrested in 1999 for driving under the influence of alcohol or narcotics.
This is an arrest rate of 1 for every 121 licensed drivers in the United States (2000 data not yet available).
About 3 in every 10 Americans will be involved in an alcohol-related crash at some time in their lives.
In 2000, 31 percent of all traffic fatalities occurred in crashes in which at least one driver or
non-occupant had a BAC of 0.10 g/dl or greater. Sixty-nine percent of the 12,892 people killed in such crashes were themselves intoxicated.
The remaining 31 percent were passengers, non-intoxicated drivers, or non-intoxicated
non-occupants.
The rate of alcohol involvement in fatal crashes is more than 3 times as high at night as during the day (61 percent vs. 18 percent).
For all crashes, the alcohol involvement rate is more than 4 times as high at night (17 percent vs. 4 percent).
In 2000, 30 percent of all fatal crashes during the week were alcohol-related, compared to 53 percent on weekends.
For all crashes, the alcohol involvement rate was 6 percent during the week and 14 percent during the weekend.
From 1990 to 2000, intoxication rates decreased for drivers of all age groups involved in fatal crashes.
Drivers 16 to 20 years old experienced the largest decrease in intoxication rates (29 percent), followed by drivers 25 to 34 years old (27 percent).
The highest intoxication rates in fatal crashes in 2000 were recorded for drivers 21-24 years old (27 percent), followed by ages 25-34 (24 percent) and 35-44 (22 percent).
Intoxication rates for drivers in fatal crashes in 2000 were highest for motorcycle operators (27 percent) and lowest for drivers of large trucks
(1 percent). The intoxication rate for drivers of light trucks was higher than that for passenger car drivers (20 percent and 19 percent, respectively).
Source: "Traffic Safety Facts 2000
Alcohol" published by US Department of Transportation, National
Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) National Center for
Statistics & Analysis, Research & Development, 400 Seventh St.
SW, Washington, DC 20590 http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov
This page is http://www.maddorangecounty.org/stats_nhtsa2000.htm
Page updated: August 13, 2005
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