Hard Facts
DUI stands for “driving under the influence” of alcohol or prescription, nonprescription, or illegal drugs and is the main cause of deaths and injuries on our roadways. Can you imagine, almost half of the number of people who were killed on 9/11 at the Twin Towers are killed every year just because of DUI crashes? That number doesn't even include other types of crashes.
And the saddest thing is that none of those DUI crashes had to happen. They happened because someone made a bad choice: to drink and drive. That's a choice you don't have to make. Stop yourself. Stop a friend.
Here are some quick and scary facts:
- Alcohol is involved in about 40% of all fatal car crashes.
- Alcohol-related crashes in the U.S. cost about $51 billion each year.
- Drivers with a blood alcohol content (BAC) of only 0.02 to 0.05 % are 7 times more likely to die in a crash than sober drivers.
- In 2006, 17,602 people in the United States were killed in an alcohol-related car crash, the same number as in 2005.
- In 2004, about 1.4 million drivers were arrested for DUIs related to alcohol or other drugs. That's less than 1% of the 159 million times that U.S. adults say they drive under the influence each year, which means you're sharing the roads with millions of drunk drivers who haven't been caught. How scary?
Read on to see how a DUI could mess up your life and how society's myths can make you think you're invincible. Stop yourself. Stop a friend. Don't drive with a buzz or when you're high.
