Drunk Driving Enforcement

Michelle R. Hecht

Driving while impaired is one of the nation's most frequently committed violent crimes, and Americans rank drunk driving as their number one highway safety concern. Each year, 42,000 people die in motor vehicle crashes, and more than 16,000 of these fatalities are alcohol or drug related. However, fatalities and injuries involving impaired driving, also known as drunk and drugged driving, are largely preventable. Although the definition of impaired driving includes drug-induced impairment, most of the research and arrest data focus on impairment caused by alcohol. Since 1990, alcohol-related fatalities have been reduced by 25%, from 22,084 in 1990 to 16,653 in 2000. However, in more recent years, the rate of such incidents has been slowly creeping up again. But the overall reduction since 1990 is due largely to concerted efforts by both the public and private sectors, and can be attributed to factors such as the passage of stronger state ...

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