NEW YORK
(APBnews.com) -- Alcohol-related traffic fatalities fell to a record
low last year, according to federal government statistics. But there
is evidence that, unfortunately, the downward trend may be slowing.
According to the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 15,935 people died
in alcohol-related motor vehicle accidents in 1998 -- a 1.6 percent
decrease from the 1997 total of 16,189. And the percentage of
alcohol-related traffic deaths remained unchanged between 1997 (38.5
percent) and 1998 (38.4 percent).
But safety advocates fear those statistics tell only one part of
the story. Despite heroic outreach efforts and campaigns to educate
the public, they are afraid that only a part of the population that
drinks or does drugs has heard the message.
'Tough nuts remain'
"The social drinkers have been deterred, but the tough nuts
remain," said John Moulden, president of the National Commission
Against Drunk Driving (NCADD) in Washington. Moulden referred to the
outreach efforts of groups such as NCADD and Mothers Against Drunk
Driving (MADD), which are devoted to lowering the death rate on the
road.
"Even though we've had a change since previous years, we aren't
making the kind of substantial gains we saw in the 1980s," Moulden
said. He also chairs the National Drunk and Drugged Driving (3D)
Prevention Month Coalition.
"President Clinton and organizations like MADD have set a goal of
11,000 [alcohol-related traffic deaths] by the year 2005, but if we
continue at this rate, we're not going to make it," Moulden said.
No quick fixes on drugs
Safety advocates are even more at a loss about how to attack the
problem of driving while under the influence of drugs.
"We know that people who abuse alcohol are likely to abuse
drugs," said Tim Hurd, a spokesperson for the National Highway
Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). But little is known about the
prevalence and effects of driving while on drugs.
"There are a couple of hundred ways to assault the body with
drugs, and it's hard to tell what's in a person's system or how
badly a person's driving is being affected," Hurd said. Plus, unlike
the Breathalyzer test for alcohol, urine tests for drugs cannot be
administered on the shoulder of a highway.
Hard-core users undeterred
Alcohol consumption, measured as pure ethanol, has inched
downward from a yearly average of 2.69 gallons per person in 1976 to
2.19 gallons in 1996, according to the National Institute on Alcohol
Abuse and Alcoholism in Washington. During that time period, drunken
driving has become increasingly socially unacceptable.
But some people haven't heard the message. For instance:
- Half of drunken driving accidents involve 21- to 35-year-old
(mostly) men who also may be under the influence of other
substances. "These young men are not easily deterred by sanctions
or laws, and they're no longer under the control of their
parents," Moulden said.
- In 1997, under-21 drinkers caused about 12 percent of
alcohol-related accidents. According to an ongoing survey of the
drinking habits of college students by the Harvard School of
Public Health, half of all male students and 39 percent of
students overall had been binge drinking (consuming five or more
alcoholic beverages in a row for men and four for women).
- On arrest, repeat offenders typically have blood alcohol
contents (BAC) above the 0.1 grams per deciliter DWI (driving
while impaired) threshold in 34 states -- usually in the vicinity
of 0.17. This small group of drinkers is undeterred by legal
penalties, such as being prosecuted for vehicular homicide in a
fatal accident.
Laws are getting tougher
With Texas lowering the DWI threshold to 0.08 BAC earlier this
year, 17 states and the District of Columbia now use the stricter
standard. (In these jurisdictions, a 170-pound person would be
legally drunk after five 12-ounce beers; a 120-pound person, after
three beers.) "Two studies of 0.08 laws have suggested that, if all
states had such laws, an estimated 590 to 600 lives would be saved
each year," said Jim Nichols, director of the NHTSA's Office of
Research and Traffic Records. "Such a law would likely work by
changing the perception of potential drinking drivers regarding how
much they can drink before driving and the likelihood of being
stopped and arrested for DWI."
And every state now has lower BAC thresholds for drivers under 21
years of age, typically 0.01 or 0.02 BAC, but 10 states -- among
them Arizona, North Carolina and Utah -- now have a "zero tolerance"
law. In these states, no detectible amount of alcohol is legally
allowed.
'Booze It & Lose It'
Lawmakers also are trying to get repeat DWI offenders off the
road altogether:
- It's no accident that North Carolina's twice yearly "Booze It
& Lose It" program is arguably the most aggressive sobriety
checkpoint program in the nation; a vehicle driven by the governor
of the state, Jim Hunt, was struck by a drunken driver. In 1999,
4,594 drivers were arrested for DWI at 1,830 Booze it & Lose
It checkpoints and random patrols statewide.
- In nine states, the first time a driver is convicted of a DWI
offense, his or her license will be revoked for a minimum period
that ranges from 15 days (in Minnesota) to six months (New
Jersey). A second offense will result in revocation in 28 states
for anywhere from 15 days (Minnesota) to three years (New
Hampshire); 32 states will impose this sanction for a third
offense (in New Jersey, the driver's license will be yanked for at
least 10 years).
- Some jurisdictions go beyond revoking driver's licenses and
take the cars away, too. For instance, since Feb. 22, a driver
caught in New York City with a BAC of at least 0.10 BAC may have
his car seized; to date, 1,324 cars have been confiscated.
Ignorance of law remains a problem
Despite years of public education campaigns by the government,
safety groups and the alcoholic beverage industry, one recent
telephone survey showed that 78 percent of 1,004 American adults are
unfamiliar with their states' laws against drunken driving.
Typically, respondents believed that their state allowed a BAC of
0.20 percent. Fewer than 21 percent knew the number of 12-ounce
beers or 5-ounce glasses of wine that would push BAC to 0.08 percent
in an hour. And just 16 percent knew that 1.5 ounces of hard liquor
contains the same amount of alcohol as a standard serving of beer or
wine.
The Century Council, an alcoholic beverage industry group, funded
the survey, which was conducted in 48 states and the District of
Columbia over a four-day period beginning Nov. 5.
Concern over New Year celebration
MADD and other traffic safety groups expect alcohol consumption
to increase significantly as revelers celebrate the new millennium.
"We only have a celebration like this every 100 years, and we're
concerned that there will be more people celebrating and more
impaired driving out on our roadways this New Year," MADD President
Karolyn Nunnallee said.
For instance, Westin St. Francis Hotel's plan to erect a
seven-story, inflatable "Millennium Martini" glass -- featuring an
enormous swizzle stick topped by a 10-foot-long olive, which will
slide down into the drink at the stroke of midnight -- has drawn
criticism from civic and religious leaders in San Francisco, who
fear the massive martini will encourage inebriation.
Throughout December, several NCADD branches will conduct a
variety of national events to raise awareness about the devastation
that impaired driving wreaks on victims' friends and family. For
instance, Dec. 17, motorists across the country will be encouraged
to drive with their headlights on during the day to show their
support for the fight to stop impaired driving.
"It's up to us, all of society, to help stop alcohol-impaired
driving," said David A. Sleet of the CDC's National Center for
Injury Prevention and Control in Atlanta. "Even if you don't drink
yourself, other people's drinking and driving can be hazardous to
your health. You can refuse to drive with a drinking driver, call a
cab for someone, and set an example for the next generation of young
drivers by not drinking and driving yourself."
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