Alcohol Liability Resources

See Alchohol Liability

Alcohol and drugs are the cause of thousands of automobile-related deaths each year in the United States.

During 2003, 17,013 people in the U.S. died in alcohol-related motor vehicle crashes, representing 40% of all traffic-related deaths.
In 2002, about 1.5 million drivers were arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol or narcotics (NHTSA 2004a).
Drugs other than alcohol (e.g., marijuana and cocaine) are involved in about 18% of motor vehicle driver deaths. These other drugs are generally used in combination with alcohol (NHTSA 2003).
More than two-thirds of child passengers ages 14 and younger who died in alcohol-related crashes during 1997-2002 were riding with the drinking driver; only 32% of them were properly restrained at the time of the crash (Shults 2004).
Each year, alcohol-related crashes in the United States cost about $51 billion (Blincoe 2002).

For additional information regarding groups at risk for alcohol-related accidents, risk factors and prevention strategies, please see the following:

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Web site.
Blincoe L, Seay A, Zaloshnja E, Miller T, Romano E, Luchter S, et al. "The Economic Impact of Motor Vehicle Crashes, 2000." Washington (DC): Dept of Transportation (US), National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), 2002. Available here (PDF file).
Brewer RD, Morris PD, Cole TB, Watkins S, Patetta MJ, Popkin C. "The risk of dying in alcohol-related automobile crashes among habitual drunk drivers." New England Journal of Medicine 1994;331:513-7.
DeJong W. Hingson R. "Strategies to reduce driving under the influence of alcohol." Annual Review of Public Health 1998;19:359-78.
Dellinger AM, Bolen J, Sacks JJ. "A comparison of driver-and passenger-based estimates of alcohol-impaired driving." American Journal of Preventive Medicine 1999;16(4):283-8.
Dept of Transportation (US), National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Traffic safety facts 2003: alcohol. Washington (DC): NHTSA; 2004a [cited 2004 Oct 19]. Available here (PDF file).
Dept of Transportation (US), National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Traffic safety facts 2003: children. Washington (DC): NHTSA; 2004d [cited 2004 Nov 4]. Available here (PDF file).
Dept of Transportation (US), National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Traffic safety facts 2003: overview. Washington (DC): NHTSA; 2004b [cited 2004 Oct 19]. Available here (PDF file).
Dept of Transportation (US), National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Traffic safety facts 2003: young drivers. Washington (DC): NHTSA; 2004c [cited 2004 Oct 19]. Available here (PDF file).
Dept of Transportation (US), National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). "Traffic Tech: The incidence and role of drugs in fatally injured drivers." Washington (DC): NHTSA; 1993.
Holder HD, Gruenewald PJ, Ponicki WR, Treno AJ, Grube JW, Saltz RF, et al. "Effect of community-based interventions on high-risk drinking and alcohol-related injuries." Journal of the American Medical Association 2000;284:2341-7.
Howat P, Sleet D, Smith I. "Alcohol and driving: is the .05% blood alcohol concentration limit justified?" Drug and Alcohol Review 1991;10(1):151-66.
Jones RK, Shinar D, Walsh JM. "State of knowledge of drug-impaired driving." Dept of Transportation (US), National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA); 2003. Report DOT HS 809 642.
Liu S, Siegel PZ, Brewer RD, Mokdad AH, Sleet DA, Serdula M. "Prevalence of alcohol-impaired driving. Results from a national self-reported survey of health behaviors." Journal of the American Medical Association 1997;277(2):122-5.
Miller BA, Whitney R, Washousky R. "Alcoholism diagnoses for convicted drinking drivers referred for alcoholism evaluation." Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research 1986;10(6):651-6.
National Committee for Injury Prevention and Control. "Injury prevention: meeting the challenge." American Journal of Preventive Medicine 1989;5(3 Suppl):123-7.
Paulozzi LJ, Patel R. "Changes in motorcycle crash mortality rates by blood alcohol concentration and age - United States," 1983 - 2003. MMWR 2004;53(47):1103-6.
Shults RA. "Child passenger deaths involving drinking drivers-United States," 1997-2002 [published erratum appears in MMWR 2004;53(5):109]. MMWR 2004;53(4):77-9.
Shults RA, Elder RW, Sleet DA, Nichols JL, Alao MO, Carande-Kulis VG, et al. "Reviews of evidence regarding interventions to reduce alcohol-impaired driving." American Journal of Preventive Medicine 2001;2(4 Suppl):66-88.
Wells-Parker E, Bangert-Drowns R, McMillen R, Williams M. "Final results from a meta-analysis of remedial interventions with drink/drive offenders." Addiction 1995;90:907-26.
Zador PL, Krawchuk SA, Voas RB. "Alcohol-related relative risk of driver fatalities and driver involvement in fatal crashes in relation to driver age and gender: an update using 1996 data." Journal of Studies on Alcohol 2000;61:387-95.