Americans take 233 billion trips in cars each year. Of course, about 1 out of every 2,000 trips is taken by those who are driving under the influence of alcohol. Yet, almost 1 out of every 3 traffic deaths involves drunk driving. In Illinois, roughly thirty percent of traffic deaths are DUI related. Fortunately the incidence of drunk driving in Illinois has decreased since the ignition interlock device law went into effect.

Every 53 minutes on average, someone is killed in a drunken driving crash. Every ninety seconds someone is injured because of the entirely preventable crime.

About one-third of drunken driving problems, arrests, crashes, deaths and injuries come from repeat offenders. At any given point, we potentially share the road with 2 million people with 3 or more drunken driving offenses. Taking away their licenses is not enough; 50-75 percent of them drive anyway. Although sixteen percent of alcohol related accidents occur during the day, more than a third occur on the weekends and thirty-nine percent occur at night.

Young people, motorcyclists, and those with prior DWI offenses pose the highest risk of being involved in a drunk driving fatal crash. Drivers aged 21-24 were involved in thirty-four percent of the fatal crashes. Motorcyclists aged 40-44 were twenty-eight percent of fatal crashes and prior DWI offenders were four times more likely to be involved in a fatal crash compared to non-offenders.

Two-thirds of a drunken driving problem comes from people who before they kill or injure themselves or others, have yet to be arrested. This is why we need to support law enforcement to deter drunk drivers through proven solutions like sobriety check points. Drunken driving statistics are as follows:

  1. One in three people will be involved in an alcohol related crash in their lifetime;
  2. Almost every ninety seconds, a person is injured in a drunk driving crash;
  3. In 2011, 9,878 people died in drunk driving crashes, one every 50 minutes;
  4. An average drunk driver has driven drunk 80 times before the first arrest;
  5. Adults drink too much and got behind the wheel, about 112 million times in 2010, which is almost 300,000 incidents of drinking and driving each day.
  6. Drunk driving costs each adult in the country almost $500 per year;
  7. If all 17 million people who admitted to driving drunk in 2010 had their own State, it would be the largest in the U.S.;
  8. Drunk driving in the United States costs is 132 billion a year;
  9. Every day in America, another 27 people died as a result of drunk driving crashes;
  10. Fifty – seventy five percent of convicted drunk drivers continue to drive on suspended licenses;

If you or a loved one has been involved in an automobile accident caused by a drunk driver, David K. Kremin & Associates and its affiliated law firms have handled hundreds of cases in Chicago, Illinois and throughout the United States. Please contact our firm for a free consultation. You will speak to a lawyer with 20-30 years of experience in this area. Call 1(800) ASK-A-LAWYER or 1(800) 275-2529.