DUI/DWI: Arrests and fatal
accidents
In 1996, local law enforcement
agencies nationwide made an
estimated 1,467,300 arrests for driving
under the influence (DUI). Arrests for
DUI peaked in 1983 when there were
1.9 million arrests. Compared to
1983, the per capita rate of arrest for
DUI in 1996 was 34% lower.
Declines in DUI arrest rates have
occurred for every age group. Of
particular note is the decrease in DUI
arrest rates for those under the age of
21 compared to their rates of DUI
arrest in the early 1980's when States
had not adopted a uniform drinking
age. In 1980 persons between 16
and 20 years old accounted for 10%
of licensed drivers but 15% of DUI
arrestees. In 1996, this age group
accounted for 7% of drivers and 8%
of DUI arrestees.
In 1996 there were 17,126 alcohol-
related traffic fatalitiesaccounting for
40.9% of all traffic fatalities during the
year. This is a 29% reduction from
the more than 24,000 fatalities
recorded 10 years earlier when alcohol
was involved in 52% of the fatalities.
An estimated 32% of fatal accidents
involved an intoxicated driver or
pedestrian (the majority are drivers,
however) with a blood alcohol concen-
tration, or BAC, of at least 0.10 grams
of alcohol per deciliter of blood, the
most commonly used definition of
intoxication.
Over the last decade rates of intoxi-
cation in fatal accidents have declined
across every age group. In 1986,
there was about 1 driver involved in a
fatal accident in which he/she was
intoxicated for every 10,500 drivers; in
1996, the rate translates into about 1
intoxicated driver in a fatal accident
for every 17,200 licensed drivers.
Among drinking drivers whose BAC
at the time of the accident was known,
84% had a BAC of at least 0.08 g/dl
and 78% had a BAC of 0.10 g/dl or
higher.
The average BAC among drinking
drivers in fatal accidents was 0.16
g/dl. There was a strong relationship
between average BAC among drinking
drivers in fatal accidents and prior
driving record consistently, those
with prior suspensions, invalid
licenses, and prior driving while intoxi-
cated (DWI) convictions reflected the
highest BAC’s at the time of the crash.
Among drivers in fatal accidents who
had at least two prior DWI convictions,
the average BAC was 0.21 g/dl, the
highest of any group.
Use of alcohol by convicted
offenders
Among the 5.3 million convicted
offenders under the jurisdiction of
corrections agencies in 1996, nearly 2
million, or about 36%, were estimated
to have been drinking at the time of
the offense. The vast majority, about
1.5 million, of these alcohol-involved
offenders were sentenced to supervi-
sion in the community: 1.3 million on
probation and more than 200,000 on
parole.
There was some variation in the
percentage of offenders who had been
using alcohol at the time of the
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Alcohol and Crime
Revised 04/28/98 th