For decades, impaired driving has been one of the most devastating and preventable dangers on our roads. Every year, millions of people make the choice to drive under the influence, with often catastrophic consequences. Thousands lose their lives in drunk and drugged driving crashes every year, shattering families and entire communities because of a preventable mistake. Of course, victims aren’t limited to the impaired drivers themselves; passengers, other motorists, and even pedestrians often pay the price for someone else’s reckless decision. With holiday travel about to pick up, it’s a good time to discuss impaired driving facts that impact us all.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Association’s (NHTSA) Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over and Drive High, Get a DUI campaigns began on December 10, 2025, and will run through January 1, 2026. The campaigns are designed to educate, warn, and deter impaired driving before it leads to more tragedy.
Tario & Associates, P.S. has over 40 years’ experience representing victims of drunk driving car accidents. When you have been seriously injured because of an impaired driver, you may need a legal advocate who will fight for the settlement you deserve. We offer free consultations and no up-front fees. Contact us today!
Impaired Driving Facts Overview
Getting behind the wheel after consuming alcohol or drugs is always a risk; with impaired drivers responsible for thousands of accidents and injuries every year.
Alcohol
Accidents caused by drunk driving are widely tracked, giving us data to understand the devastating impact:
- In 2020, 11,654 people were killed in motor vehicle crashes involving alcohol-impaired drivers, which represented 30% of all traffic-related deaths in the United States that year.
- 32 people in the United States are killed every day in collisions involving an alcohol-impaired driver, which translates to one death every 45 minutes.
- In 2020, the annual estimated cost of crash deaths involving alcohol-impaired drivers totaled about $123.3 billion.
- 62 percent of people who died in crashes involving alcohol-impaired drivers in 2020 were the alcohol-impaired drivers themselves, while the remaining 38 percent were passengers of the alcohol-impaired drivers, drivers or passengers of another vehicle, or nonoccupants (such as a pedestrian).
- 229 children ages 0–14 years were killed in crashes involving an alcohol-impaired driver in 2020. This represented 21 percent of traffic-related deaths among children ages 0–14 years.
Drugs
It is not known how many people are killed each year in crashes involving drug-impaired drivers because the data is not tracked the way it is for alcohol-impaired drivers. However, some studies have assessed drivers for alcohol and drugs in their systems after a collision. For example, in one study involving 4,243 drivers at seven trauma centers who were seriously injured in crashes, 54 percent of drivers tested positive for alcohol and/or drugs from September 2019 to July 2021. Of the 4,243 drivers, 22 percent were positive for alcohol, 25 percent were positive for marijuana, nine percent were positive for opioids, 10 percent were positive for stimulants, and eight percent were positive for sedatives.
Impaired Driving Behavior That Leads to Deadly Crashes
About one million people are arrested every year for driving under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs, but National self-report surveys make it clear that these arrests represent only a small portion of the times impaired drivers are on the road.
Results from the 2020 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) showed the estimated number of U.S. residents ages 16 years and older who drove under the influence of various substances in the past year was:
- 18.5 million for alcohol
- 11.7 million for marijuana
- 2.4 million for illicit drugs other than marijuana
Data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System showed that 1.2 percent of adults drove after having too much to drink in the past 30 days in 2020. These choices lead to so much devastation. If you have lost a loved one due to the actions of an impaired driver, you do not have to face the loss alone.
Seek the Help of a Car Accident Lawyer
If you or a loved one was injured in a collision because of the negligence of another, contact a personal injury lawyer to discuss your legal rights. Let an experienced car accident attorney fight for the full compensation that you deserve. It is not uncommon to receive a settlement from the insurance company that is five to ten times larger with the help of a lawyer. Call the personal injury lawyers at Tario & Associates, P.S. in Bellingham, WA today for a FREE consultation! Since 1979, our personal injury law firm, Tario & Associates, P.S., has been dedicated to fighting for the rights of people injured throughout Washington State, with local offices in Bellingham and Mount Vernon to serve residents of Whatcom, Skagit, Island, and Snohomish counties. You will pay nothing up front and no attorney fees at all unless we recover damages for you!
