Study: 30 Million People Drive Drunk in an Average Year

Holiday party season is in full swing, and that means you may feel a bit more pressure to raise a glass of cheer to celebrate. It also means that drivers getting behind the wheel after a few too many is also on the rise, and a report out by Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), 30 million people will drive drunk in an average year while another 10 million get behind the wheel under the influence of drugs.

The study reveals that on average, 13.2 percent of all persons 16 or older drove under the influence of alcohol and 4.3 percent of this age group drove under the influence of illicit drugs in the past year. On a state-by-state analysis, the survey shows that the highest levels of past year drunk driving were Wisconsin (23.7 percent) and North Dakota (22.4 percent). For drugged driving, the highest rates of past year were found in Rhode Island (7.8 percent) and Vermont (6.6 percent). On the lower end of the scale, the states with the lowest rates of past year drunk driving included Utah (7.4 percent) and Mississippi (8.7 percent), while Iowa and New Jersey had the lowest levels of past year drugged driving (2.9 percent and 3.2 percent respectively).

When it comes to younger drives, the levels of self-reported drunk and drugged driving differed dramatically. Drivers aged 16 to 25 had a much higher rate of drunk driving than those 26 or older (19.5 percent versus 11.8 percent). And those in the younger age group also had a much higher rate of driving under the influence of drugs than those aged 26 or older (11.4 percent versus 2.8 percent).