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Drunk driving is a selfish crime that not only affects the driver behind the wheel, but puts everyone on the road at risk of injury or death at the hands of the drunk driver. Drunk driving is defined as the operation of a motor vehicle while in an intoxicated state due to consumption of alcohol or drugs. The effects of over indulging in alcohol or drugs results in impaired vision and delayed reaction time, rendering a drunk’s driving ability null and void. In 2006, drunk drivers killed 13,470 people, making drunk driving the cause of 32 percent of all motor vehicle fatalities.

Drunk Driving Statistics

Drunk driving laws continue to get tougher, but unfortunately the number of drunk driving fatalities has not significantly decreased. The 13,470 people killed in drunk driving crashes in 2006 is a comparable number to the 13,451 killed in 1996, ten years earlier. Obviously, the United States has not made sufficient enough progress in curbing drunk driving. Currently, the legal limit of alcohol in a driver’s blood is .08%. Anyone driving with a blood alcohol level of .08% or higher is considered a drunk driver.

Unfortunately, in 2006 over 55% of the drunk drivers involved in fatal crashes had a blood alcohol level of .15 or higher, almost twice the legal limit. Most of the drunk drivers involved in these fatal crashes were male, between the ages of 21-24 and were 8% more likely to have had previous drunk driving convictions.

The states with the highest percentage of drunk driving fatalities in 2006 were Wisconsin, with 49% of its traffic fatalities due to drunk driving; Hawaii, with 48% of fatalities related to drunk driving; and South Carolina, with 46% of fatal crashes caused by drunk driving. In terms of the sheer number of drunk driving related deaths, Texas, California and Florida topped the list in 2006 with 1,544, 1,509, and 1,111 drunk driving related deaths, respectively.

Drunk Driving Laws and Penalties

Groups who target drunk drivers, such as Mothers Against Drunk Drivers (MADD), have helped to pass over 1,600 drunk driving laws since 1980. Amongst these laws is the Administrative License Revocation law, which allows officers to revoke the license of anyone who fails or declines to undergo a breathalyzer test. The Zero Tolerance law makes it illegal for drivers under the age of 21 to have any amount of alcohol in their blood. As well as the Administrative License Revocation law and the Zero Tolerance law, penalties have also increased for drunk driving.

Many states require mandatory jail time for repeat drunk driving offenders, and impose heftier fines and longer license suspensions. Some states even require offenders to enroll in drunk driving school, which requires them to not only pass a written test, but meet face-to-face with victims of drunk driving. The idea is that hearing how painfully a victim’s life was changed by the offenders’ careless choice to drink and drive will cause the offender to stop and think before drinking and driving.