Major Risks for Teen Drivers
Driving Under the Influence of Alcohol
- In 2007, 92.2 percent of twelfth graders reported that alcohol is "very easy" or "fairly easy" to get.
(University of Michigan, 2007)
- In 2007, 82.6 percent of tenth graders reported that alcohol is "very easy" or "fairly easy" to get. This is down from 89 percent a decade earlier.
(University of Michigan, 2007)
- In 2007, 62 percent of eighth graders reported that alcohol is "very easy" or "fairly easy" to get. This is down from 75 percent a decade earlier.
(University of Michigan, 2007)
- Drivers are less likely to use restraints when they have been drinking.
(National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 2006)
- Of the young drivers that had been drinking and were killed in crashes, 77% were unrestrained.
(National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 2006)
- In 2006, the rate of alcohol impairment among drivers involved in fatal crashes was four times higher at night than during the day (36% versus 9%.)
(National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 2006)
- In 2006, an estimated 17,602 people died in alcohol-related traffic crashes-an average of one every 30 minutes. These deaths constitute 41% of the 42,642 total traffic fatalities. Of these, an estimated 13,470 involved a driver with an illegal BAC (.08 or greater). On average someone is killed by a drunk driver every 39 minutes.
(National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 2006)