1 in 12 American Motorists Drove Under the Influence During Previous Year

Friday, August 27th, 2010 | Lawyer Marketing | No Comments

Approximately 8% of American drivers who responded to a survey by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration admitted to driving under the influence on at least one occasion in the previous 12 months.  The survey was conducted in 2008, and the agency has released its findings just in time for its annual Labor Day anti-DWI crackdown.

The survey findings translate into approximately one in every twelve drivers in the US admitting to driving under the influence the previous year.  Twenty percent admit they have driven within two hours of drinking alcohol.  Another 8% of the population admitted to having been a passenger in a car that had a drunk driver at the wheel.  Approximately a quarter of these passengers were men aged between 16 and 24.

Law enforcement officers and drunk driving accident lawyers in Las Vegas should be on increased alert at those findings, although none of the findings in the survey really surprise us.  Our city sees large hordes of partiers over the Labor Day weekend.  Authorities in Las Vegas and the state of Nevada have a lot to do if they want to make progress on the drunk driving problem here.  This continues to be a serious traffic safety menace, and in fact, is the biggest contributor to fatal auto accidents in the United States.  In 2008, the year that the survey was taken, there were more than 10,600 fatal accidents caused by drunk driving crashes.  That makes it approximately 31% of all fatal accidents.  There have been some progress made in bringing down the numbers of DUI-related crashes, but there’s still plenty of work to do, as this report indicates.

As the Labor Day weekend creeps up, Las Vegas auto accident lawyers advise  residents, tourists and holidaymakers alike to avoid driving under the influence, drive at safe speeds and wear seat belts at all times.