Health
officials say drunken driving has fallen 30% in five years, and last
year was at its lowest mark in nearly two decades. Four million
Americans admit driving when they’ve had too much to drink, a CDC survey
finds. Driving while alcohol-impaired happened an estimated 112 million
times last year, down from the 161 million incidents in the peak year
of 2006. About 1 in 50 said they’d driven drunk at least once in the
previous month. Some said they did it daily. CDC officials think more
people may now drink at home, perhaps because of the economy. Who’s
driving drunk? The CDC survey found that:
- 81% of drunk drivers are men.
- 85% of drunk drivers are binge drinkers.
- 1 in 3 drunk drivers are young men aged 21 to 34.
- People who don’t always wear seatbelts are four times more likely to drive drunk.
- People from the Midwest report more drunk driving than people from the South, West or Northeast.
