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Trends in Alcohol-Related Fatal Traffic Crashes, United States, 1979-92

NCJ Number
153966
Author(s)
T S Zobeck; K E Campbell; B F Grant; D Bertolucci
Date Published
1994
Length
31 pages
Annotation
This summary of trends in alcohol-related traffic fatalities from 1979 through 1992 notes that in 1992, the proportion of traffic crash deaths that were alcohol-related reached a 14-year low of 37.4 percent.
Abstract
Between 1979 and 1992, alcohol-related traffic crash fatalities per 100 million vehicle miles traveled, 100,000 population, 100,000 registered vehicles, and 100,000 licensed drivers decreased by 50, 37, 40, and 40 percent respectively. The number of male drivers in these crashes decreased by 30 percent and the number of female drivers increased by 4 percent during the same period. In 1992, the national rate of blood alcohol testing of drivers killed in traffic crashes remained stable at 73 percent. The average blood alcohol for these drivers was 0.16 or 0.17 during the 14-year period. Between 1991 and 1992, deaths associated with young drinking drivers ages 16-24 decreased 16 percent, a 51 percent decrease from the 14-year high of 9,918 deaths in 1980. Figures, tables, and 28 references