Driving while drunk remains a serious scourge, with 11,773 people killed on U.S. roads in 2008, the last year statistics are available. That number is down dramatically from 1982 when 21,113 people died, due to stricter enforcement by the states.[1]
Some states have had much more success than others in dealing with drunk drivers. Vermont has the lowest fatality rate in the nation, reporting 0.16 deaths per 100 million miles driven. On the opposite side of the spectrum, Montana’s rate is four times higher with 0.84 deaths reported.
Insurance.com recently surveyed drunk driving traffic violations in 20 large metropolitan areas and discovered that two California cities, San Diego and San Jose, have had the highest rates in the nation over the past three years. People caught driving while drunk can face higher insurance costs, penalties and jail time for their offense.[2]
In statistical order the largest cities in the country are ranked as follows:
- San Diego, CA
- San Jose, CA
- Charlotte, NC
- Phoenix, AZ
- Columbus, OH
- Indianapolis, IN
- Los Angeles, CA
- San Francisco, CA
- Austin, TX
- Jacksonville, FL
- San Antonio, TX
- Dallas, TX
- Houston, TX
- Fort Worth, TX
- Memphis, TN
- Philadelphia, PA
- New York, NY
- Baltimore, MD
- Chicago, IL
- Detroit, MI
Insurance.com believes that enforcement strategies and the availability of mass transit have a big impact on where cities rank. Boston was excluded from the list due to a lack of available data.
Why is Vermont the leader in reducing drunk driving fatalities? That may have something to do with law enforcement crackdowns across the state when a major holiday, such as Labor Day, takes place. A state representative noted that liquor sales in bars drops over long holiday weekends, but increases at liquor stores. People seem to get the word that if they drive drunk, they’ll suffer the consequences, choosing to do their drinking at home and staying put.
References
[1] USA Today: Drunken driving fatalities down 7% in USA
[2] Insurance.com: The U.S. cities with the most drunk driving offenders
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