Driving while impaired accounted for what percentage of traffic-related deaths in the u.s. in 2015?

Alcohol-impaired crashes are those that involve at least one driver or a motorcycle operator with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.08 grams per deciliter or above, the legal definition of impaired driving. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) Alcohol Impaired Driving Safety Fact Sheet 11,654 people died in alcohol-impaired crashes in 2020, an increase of 14 percent from 2019. Alcohol-impaired crash fatalities accounted for 30 percent of all crash fatalities.

According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) 49 states and the District of Columbia have per se laws making it a crime to drive with a BAC at or above 0.08 (Utah the threshold is a BAC of 0.05 percent or above). The Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) has information on alcohol impaired driving state laws.

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