Drinking and Driving
A Threat to Everyone
112M
Adults reported drinking and driving about 112 million times in 2010.
85%
85% of drinking and driving episodes were reported by binge drinkers.
4 in 5
Four in 5 people who drink and drive are men.
US adults drank too much and got behind the wheel about 112 million times in 2010. Though episodes of driving after drinking too much (“drinking and driving”) have gone down by 30% during the past 5 years, it remains a serious problem in the US. Alcohol-impaired drivers* are involved in about 1 in 3 crash deaths, resulting in nearly 11,000 deaths in 2009.
Driving drunk is never OK. Choose not to drink and drive and help others do the same.
*These drivers had blood alcohol concentrations of at least 0.08%. This is the illegal blood alcohol concentration level for adult drivers in the United States.
SOURCE: CDC Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, US 2010
Drinking and driving episodes by gender and age, 2010
SOURCE: CDC Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, US 2010
Some likely effects on driving
Adapted from The ABCs of BAC, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 2005, and How to Control Your Drinking, WR Miller and RF Munoz, University of New Mexico, 1982.
Self-reported annual drinking and driving episodes
SOURCE: CDC Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, US 2006, 2008 and 2010