Young Driver and Alcohol Involvement Facts

• All States and the District of Columbia have 21-year-old minimum-drinking-age laws.
  
  
• In fatal crashes in 2009 the highest percentage of drivers with a BAC level of .08 or higher was for drivers ages 21 to 24 (35%), followed by ages 25 to 34 (32%) and 35 to 44 (26%).
  
  
• In 2009, 33% of the young drivers (15 to 20 years old) who were killed in crashes had a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of .01 grams per deciliter (g/dL) or higher; 28% had a BAC level of .08.
  
  
• In 2009, 24% of the 15- to 20-year-old drivers involved in fatal crashes were drinking, compared to 4% in injury crashes and % in property-damage-only crashes
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• Among young drivers ages 15 to 20, 625 drivers were killed at the age of 20 –
  highest in this age category; 41% of these drivers were drinking – highest in this age category.
  
  
• The number of 15- to 20-year-old drivers involved in fatal crashes who had a BAC of .01 g/dL or higher dropped by 37%, from 1,932 in 2000 to 1,210 in 2009.
  
  
• In 2009, a total of 1,314 children age 14 and younger were killed in motor vehicle traffic crashes. Of those 1,314 fatalities, 181 (14%) occurred in alcohol-impaired driving crashes. Out of those 181 deaths, 92 (51%) were occupants of a vehicle with a driver who had a BAC level of .08 or higher, and another 27 children (15%) were pedestrians or pedalcyclists struck by drivers with a BAC of .08 or higher.
  
  
• For young drivers (15 to 20 years old), alcohol involvement is higher among males than among females. In 2009, 27% of the young male drivers involved in fatal crashes had been drinking at the time of the crash, compared with 15% of the young female drivers involved in fatal crashes.
  
  
• Drivers are less likely to use restraints when they have been drinking. In 2009, 60% of the young drivers of passenger vehicles involved in fatal crashes who had been drinking were unrestrained. Of the young drivers who had been drinking and were killed in crashes, 70% were unrestrained.
  
  
• NHTSA estimates that the 21-year-old minimum-drinking-age laws have reduced alcohol traffic fatalities by 13% and have saved an estimated 27,677 lives since 1975. In 2009, an estimated 623 lives were saved by minimum-drinking-age laws.

Drivers With a BAC of .08 or Higher Involved in Fatal Crashes and Age,
2000 and 2009

Impaired Driving Facts>>