Drunk Driving

    The article “National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration” reported in 2023, 12, 429 individuals who died in drunk driving accidents in the United States. This accounts for nearly 30% of all traffic fatalities. To put this into context, “every day, about 37 people in the United States die in drunk-driving crashes — that's one person every 39 minutes” (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration [NHTSA], n.d.).  And this is not limited to only cars. Of those involved in motorcycle crashes, 26 percent of all fatalities were due to drunk driving.  25% of children under 14 who died in motor vehicle crashes, over half of them were passengers in a vehicle where the driver was impaired. And while the number of lives lost is tragic and incalculable, there is also the 68.9 million dollars annually these incidents cost the United States, including hospital care, long-term rehabilitation, loss of work, legal and court cost, property damage and even the cost of traffic congestion and delays. 

    To combat drunk driving, the NHTSA has worked on numerous campaigns to increase public awareness of the dangers of drunk driving. This includes the likes of “Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over” and other initiatives to combat the willingness of individuals to drive impaired. Likewise, the NHTSA has also increased the frequency and use of  DUI checkpoints and has focused on encouraging communities in their strengthening of DUI laws and utilizing  the maximum penalty for those individuals who drive under the influence. 

The data set used in my tableau project is compiled from the NHTSA crash data and from the US Census Bureau population data. This data covers the years of 1994-2022.  This data includes the number of impaired driving accidents, whether or not the accident was singular or multi-car, and the time of day that the crash occurred.  

    The map of fatal accidents related to alcohol per 100,000 people allows for a comparison between states. For example, a state with a large population would then not be an outlier as compared to a state with a smaller population. The 100,000 per person allows for an equal comparison. 

    To calculate fatal alcohol crashes per 100,000 residents, one takes the total alcohol fatalities in a state divided by the states population and multiply it by 100,000. The reason why this is important is because it allows researchers to identify hot spots where continued alcohol related crashes with fatalities can be spotted and targeted intervention can occur.  

The second table which displays the amount of fatal car crashes due to alcohol at designated times of day, like 12 AM- 2:59 AM,  is demonstrated by calculating the number of fatal car crashes that occurred during those time periods. This is also then looked at on a yearly basis. By doing the chart by time, it allows the researcher to visualize the time where most crashes occur. This allows for individuals to target problematic times and increase a police presence on those roads at that time. 

    In the last data set, the table demonstrates the single versus the multi-car fatal crashes involving alcohol. The data is split by the type of crash. This allows the researcher to visualize the frequency of singular vehicle crashes and multi-car crashes that involve alcohol. This information can help target how to prevent these types of crashes in both rural and urban settings. 

    As we talked about in class, over one third of crashes include alcohol impairment and of those over 70% of those crashes include an individual who has a BAC over .15. The normal cut-off is a .08, which indicates those driving are often double the limit. We also discussed the impact of Blue laws which included the outlaw of alcohol sales or entertainment during particular times. For example, 12 states have no liquor sales on Sunday. These laws were challenged because it dictated what an individual was required to believe or practice. However, as discussed, these laws also were used as a means to encourage individuals to attend church or at the very least, enjoy family time. 

References

References Anderson, M. L., & Rees, D. I. (2014). The effectiveness of drunk driving laws: 

Evidence from regression discontinuity. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 6(4), 205–230. https://doi.org/10.1257/app.6.4.205

AP News. (2021, November 9). Fact check: Infrastructure bill includes mandate for anti-drunk 

driving technology. https://apnews.com/article/fact-checking-402773429497

Distillery Trail. (2021, November 8). $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill includes mandate to 

implement anti-drunk driving technology into new cars by 2026. https://www.distillerytrail.com/blog/1-2-trillion-infrastructure-bill-includes-mandate-to-implement-anti-drunk-driving-technology-into-new-cars-by-2026/

Mothers Against Drunk Driving. (2023, December). Advanced impaired driving prevention 

technology fact sheet. https://madd.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Advanced-Impaired-Driving-Prevention-Technology-Fact-Sheet-December-2023-1.pdf

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. (n.d.). Drunk driving. U.S. Department of 

Transportation. https://www.nhtsa.gov/risky-driving/drunk-driving

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. (2023). Fatality analysis reporting system 

(FARS) encyclopedia. https://www.nhtsa.gov/research-data/fatality-analysis-reporting-system-fars

U.S. Census Bureau. (n.d.). State population totals and components of change: 2020–2022. 

https://www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/popest/2020s-state-total.html