Facts You Should Know About Drinking and Drug Use

Facts about Drinking and Driving:

• Drinking and driving is the leading cause of death among Oklahomans under the age of 30.
• Each year in Oklahoma, more than 200 people are killed in alcohol-related traffic crashes. That is equal to the number of people murdered in this state every year.
• Approximately one-third of all fatal traffic crashes occurring in Oklahoma are alcohol-related. That is one alcohol-related fatality every 42 hours.
• More than 70% of repeat arrests for drunken driving involve alcoholics.
• Each year, nearly 18,000 Americans die at the hands of drunk drivers. This can be likened to 90 jumbo jet crashes with no survivors. An air tragedy of that scope would horrify the nation. Yet, the drunk driving fatalities go relatively unnoticed.
• About 1.5 million Americans are injured yearly in drunk driving crashes.
• Approximately 25 cents of each motorist's auto insurance dollar goes to pay for the damage done by drunk drivers.
• Forty percent of Americans will be involved in an alcohol-related crash at some point in their lives.
• For every two-hundredths of a percent increase in the blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of late-night drivers, the risk of being killed in a single-vehicle crash nearly doubles.
• More than half of alcohol-related deaths occur in single-vehicle crashes.
• "Social drinkers" are responsible for a third of alcohol-related crashes.
• To illustrate the American alcohol problem, there are 30 times as many alcoholics as heroin addicts in the U.S. These ten million alcoholics account for nearly 70 percent of traffic fatalities.
• At any given time and place on U.S. roads, one out of 50 drivers is legally drunk. That average soars to one out of 10 on weekend nights.
• In Oklahoma, a person arrested for drunk driving can expect to face fines and fees averaging $1,200. That doesn't include auto insurance rate increases of $ 1,400-or possible cancellation.

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