Indiana Traffic Safety Facts: Alcohol 2012

Abstract

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) defines drivers as alcohol-impaired “when their blood alcohol concentration (BAC) is 0.08 grams per deciliter (g/dL) or higher [and] any fatal crash involving a driver with a BAC of 0.08 or higher is considered to be an alcohol-impaired-driving crash, and fatalities occurring in those crashes are considered to be alcohol-impaired-driving fatalities” (NHTSA DOT HS 811 700, 2012, p. 1). Alcohol-impaired driving in the United States in 2011 (latest data available) resulted in 9,878 deaths, or 31 percent of all motor vehicle traffic fatalities. In 2012, Indiana had 158 alcohol-impaired driving fatalities (a 12.9 percent increase from 140 fatalities in 2011) and 2,112 injuries. Alcoholimpaired collisions were 2.7 percent of all Indiana crashes, but accounted for 20.3 percent of Indiana’s 779 traffic fatalities. Of the 540 drivers killed in collisions in 2012, about one in four (24.4 percent) died in a collision involving at least one alcohol-impaired driver. More than two-thirds of the drivers killed in 2012 were tested for alcohol (and/or drugs), and among those for whom results were reported, 37.1 percent were legally impaired. This fact sheet presents information on alcohol-impaired traffic collisions in Indiana during 2008 to 2012. It examines Indiana’s comparative status among other Great Lakes states, different dimensions of alcoholimpaired collisions, the general incidence of alcohol testing, the BAC test results for involved drivers, and other attributes of alcohol-impaired collisions, injuries, and fatalities reported in the Indiana State Police Automated Reporting Information Exchange System (ARIES), as of April 9, 2013