Alcohol-Impaired Driving Among Adults - United States, 2012.
Level 4 - case-series / case-control
Cross-sectional population survey analyzing self-reported data
PubMed 26247434 · doi:10.15585/mmwr.mm6430a2
What was done
CDC analyzed self-reported data from the 2012 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) survey among US adults to estimate the prevalence, total episodes, and annual rate of alcohol-impaired driving in the preceding 30 days.
What was found
An estimated 4.2 million adults reported at least one alcohol-impaired driving episode in the previous 30 days, equating to approximately 121 million episodes and a national rate of 505 episodes per 1,000 population annually. Rates varied more than fourfold across states, peaking in the Midwest region. Men accounted for 80% of all episodes, and young men aged 21-34 accounted for 32%. In addition, 85% of episodes were reported by people who also binge drank, and the 4% of adults reporting binge drinking at least four times per month accounted for 61% of all episodes.
Why it matters
These findings show that US impaired driving is heavily concentrated among a small subpopulation of frequent binge drinkers, underscoring the need for targeted interventions alongside broad policy enforcement.
Limits
The total sample size was not reported in the abstract. All measures relied on self-reported driving and drinking behavior, which is susceptible to recall and social desirability biases, and blood alcohol concentrations were not directly verified.
Cited by
- supports Drunk driving causes approximately 10,000 deaths per year in the United States.