Drinking and Driving

Alcohol impairs judgment and motor skills. So, it is not surprising that alcohol takes its largest social toll in motor vehicle use. The percentage of drivers killed in car crashes has been dropping for the last twenty years. However, drinking and driving remains a serious problem in the United States.

More than 48,000 Americans were killed in vehicle crashes in 2000. Nearly 30% of all fatally injured drivers in 2000 were more than legally drunk, with blood alcohol levels exceeding 0.10 percent (0.08 percent is the limit in most states). Men and women are both affected (34% of male drivers killed and 18% of female drivers killed in car crashes were drunk). Nearly 30% of vehicle passengers killed in car wrecks were also legally drunk (usually riding with a drunk driver). Alcohol fatality rates were higher on weekends (6:00 PM Friday to 6:00 AM Monday) when more than 42% of fatally injured drivers were legally drunk. Crashes and fatalities are also much more prevalent at night (9:00 PM to 6:00 AM), when 64% of the drivers killed in crashes were drunk. Not only are perception and motor skills affected by alcohol consumption, but also the ability to stay awake (alcohol is a depressant). About one-third of crash deaths involve the vehicle leaving the road and impacting a tree, embankment, guardrail, utility pole, ditch, curb, sign, or other unforgiving hazard. About 44% of the drivers that were killed when their vehicle left the road were more than legally drunk (and the largest demographic group was men younger than 35 years old).

Fate has nothing to do with it. Had the individuals who were killed not been drinking before they climbed behind the wheel, the crash would not have occurred and they would be alive today. National Academy of Sciences researchers no longer use the term "accidents" because we have known for a long time that every crash is preventable. Alcohol-related crashes are preventable. It's not about "knowing your limits," it's about not driving when you are drinking and not drinking when you're driving.

Another sad fact is that more than 10% of individuals killed in motor vehicle incidents are pedestrians. More than 4,700 pedestrians were killed in the United States in 2000. Here's the surprising statistic...53% of pedestrians aged 16 years or older who were killed at night were drunk. More than 1,000 drunk pedestrians are killed by motor vehicles each year. Alcohol impairs your ability to judge oncoming vehicle speeds and your decision making abilities related to crossing the street. Similar statistics are out there for drunk bicycle riding. Drinking and walking is safer than drinking and driving, but drinking and taking a cab or a ride from a designated driver is the way to go.

One of the biggest problems facing drinkers is that once they have started drinking, impaired judgment prevents them from accurately assessing their level of impairment. Drunk persons lack the skill to recognize that they are too drunk to drive (and so do their fellow drinkers). By the way, adding caffeine to your alcohol intake will not sharpen your senses, it will not improve your judgment, and it will not improve your motor skills. When you combine caffeine and alcohol in excess, all you get is a wide-awake drunk (which may be even more dangerous).

Everyone has to have limits when they are drinking, especially when they plan to drive later that day. A conservative rule is that for every 12 oz standard beer (5% ABV) you drink, wait a minimum of 1.5 hours from the time that you finish the last beer before you get behind the wheel of a car. Two beers, wait three hours. Three beers, wait four and a half hours. Four beers, just call a cab or have a sober friend drive you. True, you may cross back over to being legally sober earlier than outlined above, but it is not worth the risk. The best rule is that whenever you have a beer, even one beer, let someone else do the driving.

So, what can society do about drinking and driving? Making drinking illegal does not work (and is really no more logical than making driving illegal). Yet, the consequences of drunk driving cannot be ignored. Policies need to focus on ensuring that drinking and driving are separate activities. Public policies generally focus on intervention when the behavior of an individual threatens the safety of others. Implementing strategies designed to reduce the behavior of driving while drunk certainly qualifies. Research has shown that active enforcement of driving while intoxicated (DWI) laws reduces drunk driving. While sobriety checkpoints are intrusive and burdensome, research in many urban areas has shown that checkpoints are effective at reducing drunk driving, primarily because they increase the risk of being caught (which apparently does influence the decision making of a drunk individual). The best mechanism to curb drunk driving is education and pre-planning. Drinkers need to understand ahead of time that they will be impaired once they start drinking, that they will not be capable of objectively evaluating their condition, and that the need to plan ahead for a ride home when they go out drinking. Drinkers should pre-program the numbers for taxi companies into their cell phones and bring extra cash for the ride home. Drinkers should keep in mind, that a car can always be picked up from the bar the next morning. Finally, bars and restaurants can support this campaign by providing benefits to designated drivers (free sodas and snacks) and by calling a taxicab for any customer that needs one.