Probability of Dying in an Alcohol-Impaired Driving Crash
1 in 33,000
Annual probability in US
About 13,000 people die each year in alcohol-impaired driving crashes in the US, giving roughly a 1 in 33,000 annual risk.
Alcohol-impaired driving crashes kill approximately 13,384 people per year in the United States, accounting for about 31% of all traffic fatalities. This translates to roughly one alcohol-impaired driving death every 39 minutes. The annual risk of dying in such a crash is about 1 in 33,000 for the general population.
A driver with a BAC of 0.08% (the legal limit in all states) is approximately 4 times more likely to crash than a sober driver. At a BAC of 0.15%, crash risk increases by roughly 25 times. Young drivers (21-24) have the highest rates of alcohol-impaired driving involvement in fatal crashes.
Decades of public education, stricter laws, and technology have significantly reduced drunk driving deaths from a peak of about 21,000 per year in the early 1980s. Effective interventions include sobriety checkpoints, ignition interlock devices, ride-sharing services, and zero-tolerance laws for underage drivers. Despite progress, drunk driving remains one of the largest preventable causes of death on American roads.
Use This in a Decision
Plug this probability into our expected value calculator to make a data-driven decision.
Start a Decision