
In 2020, alcohol-related crash fatalities hit the best quantity the nation has seen since 2008.
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Alcohol-impaired-driving fatalities rose 14% from 2019 to 2020, accounting for 30% of 2020 general fatalities, in keeping with new information from the Nationwide Freeway Site visitors Security Administration.
Some 11,654 folks misplaced their lives in alcohol-related crashes — the best quantity linked to alcohol use since 2008. Sarcastically, whereas alcohol-related fatalities spiked in 2020, automobile miles traveled decreased by 11% due largely to the pandemic.
NHTSA’s report additionally identifies the kinds of automobiles concerned in drunk driving crashes. Drivers of almost all automobile varieties — automobiles, SUVs, pickups, bikes, and huge vans — noticed will increase within the variety of alcohol-impaired drivers concerned in deadly crashes from 2019 to 2020. The one exception was van drivers, the place alcohol-impaired deadly crashes decreased 13%.
Passenger automobile drivers had the biggest quantity enhance — 703 — in alcohol-impaired drivers concerned in deadly crashes from 2019 to 2020. SUV drivers had the second largest quantity enhance with 176.
The report additionally factors out that in 2020 45% of site visitors deaths concerned at the least one among three hazardous behaviors: impaired driving, rushing, or not sporting a seat belt. What’s extra, there have been 1,638 passenger automobile drivers concerned in deadly crashes who have been concurrently unrestrained, alcohol-impaired, and rushing — a 21% enhance from 1,357 in 2019.