Replies

Since the laws got so tough the arrest rate is way up, but there is no corresponding reduction in the % accident rate involving drinking. If the law was effective the accident rate should be down, shouldn't it?

Great rant but false.

============================================================ In 1996, local law enforcement agencies nationwide made an estimated 1,467,300 arrests for driving under the influence (DUI). Arrests for DUI peaked in 1983 when there were 1.9 million arrests. Compared to 1983, the per capita rate of arrest for DUI in 1996 was 34 percent lower.

Declines in DUI arrest rates have occurred for every age group. Of particular note is the decrease in DUI arrest rates for those under the age of 21 compared to their rates of DUI arrest in the early 1980's when States had not adopted a uniform drinking age. In 1980 persons between 16 and 20 years old accounted for 10 percent of licensed drivers but 15 percent of DUI arrestees. In 1996, this age group accounted for 7 percent of drivers and 8 percent of DUI arrestees.

In 1996 there were 17,126 alcohol-related traffic fatalities accounting for 40.9 percent of all traffic fatalities during the year. This is a 29 percent reduction from the more than 24,000 fatalities recorded 10 years earlier when alcohol was involved in 52 percent of the fatalities.

An estimated 32 percent of fatal accidents involved an intoxicated driver or pedestrian (the majority are drivers, however) with a blood alcohol concentration, or BAC, of at least 0.10 grams of alcohol per deciliter of blood, the most commonly used definition of intoxication.