Which Country Has the Highest Drunk Driving Rate?
During the holiday season, two hundred and eighty-five people were killed and more than two hundred and thirty-two children were injured because of alcohol-related traffic crashes. These statistics highlight the serious problem of drunk driving in the United States.
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The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration researches drunk driving. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention also researches it. In the US, one person dies every 50 minutes in an alcohol-related car crash. The FBI estimates that there were more than one million drivers arrested for DUI in 2017. The rate of arrests has been steadily decreasing since 2000. The number of fatalities due to alcohol or drugs is expected to drop between 2020 and 2021.
Alcohol involvement in fatal crashes varies significantly from country to country. This is because of different measurement parameters, which make it impossible to compare them. The Alcohol Measurement in Countries Around the World (AMCW) project is an attempt to quantify the impact of alcohol consumption on the lives of the population. It also aims to contribute to understanding countermeasures.
In the United States, a person is convicted of a DUI if they have a blood-alcohol level of 0.08 or higher. The maximum penalty for this charge is six years in prison. It can also include a license suspension. In Canada, the same laws apply. However, the fines are much larger and DUI is a more serious offense. It is also more difficult to get your license back after a DUI.
In the United Kingdom, post-mortem results are used to determine alcohol involvement in fatal crashes. However, a significant proportion of traffic crash victims are not deemed officially fatal and are thus not reported. The DG VII Working Group on Alcohol, Drugs, and Medicines of the European Union has pointed out the issue of underreporting in the member countries. They have recommended that common definitions of fatalities be adopted to improve international comparisons.
The number of deaths from drunk driving is quite high, as it is estimated that up to 62% of all fatal accidents in Europe involve drunk drivers. In the United States, there are over 10,000 deaths per year from drunk driving. The majority of these deaths are from young drivers. More than forty-two percent of all fatal accidents in the United States are caused by young drivers. The majority of this age group is between the ages of 21 and 24. In this category, the highest percentage of drunk drivers are male.
Although the death rate due to alcohol consumption is relatively low in the United States and other developed countries, it remains very high in some developing nations. In high-income countries, about 20% of drivers who died in a traffic crash had excessive alcohol in their blood. In low-income countries, the percentage of fatally injured drivers with excess alcohol in their blood is lower. In addition, the number of deaths in road accidents is much higher for people aged 16 and younger than older adults.