Critical facts to help you understand DUI accidents

You know drunk driving accidents are a serious risk. Every time you see another tragic crash in the news, all you can think about is how easily preventable it was.

To help better show the scope of the problem, here are a handful of important statistics.

• Most DUI accidents happen at night. In 2016, Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) reported that 30 percent of deadly wrecks were during the night, and just 9 percent happened during daylight hours.
• Arrests show that men are a bigger risk than women. For instance, in 2014, a total of 130,480 women were arrested on suspicion of drunk driving. The total for men was three times higher, at 401,904.
• Teens, who are already inexperienced drivers, drink more than their parents know. When asked, one out of every 100 parents said that their teenagers would engage in binge drinking. The reality is that one out of every seven teens will do it.
• The above means that about 25 percent of teen car accidents also involve drivers who have been drinking, despite being underage.
• An injury in a DUI crash happens every 120 seconds.
• There is some good news: Deadly DUI accidents are on the decline. There are half as many annually as there were in 1980. That said, total accident fatalities have also fallen over that time, in part due to increases in safety technology in cars, so the entire decline does not necessarily reflect the same drop in drinking and driving.

As you can see, the risk of being involved in a DUI crash is serious, and it’s important for all drivers to know their legal options if they’re hit and injured.

Source: MADD, “Statistics,” accessed Dec. 21, 2017