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FARS 2008 & Young Drivers
What you always see on the news is that young drivers between the
ages of 16 to 24 are seven times as likely to be in an alcohol-involved
fatal accident than drivers between the age of 55 to 63. What you
will not seen in the news is that young drivers are also two to 2 to 2
1/2 TIMES as likely as the older drivers to be in all fatal accidents,
drinking or not. You will also not see that young drivers are 12
times as likely to be involved in a non-alcohol-related fatal crash as
in an alcohol-related one, nor that older drivers are FIFTEEN times as
likely. This partially explains the following observation from
NHTSA itself that other factors which cause young drivers to be in a
disproportionate number of accidents make their drinking and driving
accidents pale by comparison:
Connolly, Kimball, and Moulton (1989) computed risk factors as a
function of several variables using crash data from FARS (1976-1981) and
non-crash data from the 1973 National Roadside Breathtesting Survey
conducted by The University of Michigan. They used logistic regression
analysis to examine the contributions of various factors to the relative
risk of a fatal crash and found that even after
controlling for BAC, youth alone
increased the risk of a fatal crash.
These findings suggest that impairment alone may not be behind the
higher risk of alcohol-related crashes for young drivers. A proclivity
toward problem behavior in general and, possibly, a lower perception of
the increased impairment and crash risk due to drinking may exacerbate
the impairing effects of alcohol on driving for this group.
Even if you could completely eliminate the alcohol-related fatal
accidents by these youth, they would STILL be in 2 to 2 1/2 TIMES as
many accidents as older drivers.
It makes no sense to continue to punish them with punitive DWI laws,
when these laws themselves might be what drives them to both drink AND
drive dangerously.
|
STATE:
All |
YEAR:
2008 |
COUNT:
Number
of
Persons |
|
| Age |
Police-Reported Alcohol Involvement |
Total |
| Blank |
No (Alcohol Not Involved) |
Yes (Alcohol Involved) |
Not Reported |
Unknown (Police Reported) |
| Up To
One Year |
1 |
99 |
0 |
206 |
3 |
309 |
| 1 Year |
0 |
130 |
0 |
332 |
3 |
465 |
| 2 Years |
0 |
104 |
0 |
314 |
3 |
421 |
| 3 Years |
0 |
127 |
0 |
326 |
1 |
454 |
| 4 Years |
0 |
108 |
0 |
317 |
4 |
429 |
| 5 Years |
0 |
121 |
0 |
278 |
4 |
403 |
| 6 Years |
0 |
116 |
0 |
279 |
1 |
396 |
| 7 Years |
1 |
118 |
0 |
282 |
4 |
405 |
| 8 Years |
0 |
107 |
0 |
284 |
4 |
395 |
| 9 Years |
0 |
107 |
0 |
300 |
3 |
410 |
| 10 Years |
0 |
102 |
0 |
272 |
3 |
377 |
| 11 Years |
0 |
103 |
0 |
308 |
5 |
416 |
| 12 Years |
0 |
109 |
1 |
294 |
4 |
408 |
| 13 Years |
0 |
149 |
2 |
331 |
4 |
486 |
| 14 Years |
0 |
176 |
14 |
453 |
13 |
656 |
| 15 Years |
0 |
256 |
21 |
649 |
37 |
963 |
| 16 Years |
1 |
557 |
73 |
901 |
76 |
1,608 |
| 17 Years |
0 |
773 |
121 |
1,069 |
113 |
2,076 |
| 18 Years |
0 |
948 |
227 |
1,239 |
208 |
2,622 |
| 19 Years |
0 |
841 |
325 |
1,207 |
224 |
2,597 |
| 20 Years |
2 |
839 |
339 |
1,039 |
187 |
2,406 |
| 21 Years |
0 |
766 |
446 |
975 |
211 |
2,398 |
| 22 Years |
1 |
672 |
410 |
890 |
214 |
2,187 |
| 23 Years |
0 |
678 |
361 |
879 |
218 |
2,136 |
| 24 Years |
0 |
628 |
396 |
744 |
202 |
1,970 |
| 25 Years |
2 |
600 |
332 |
733 |
177 |
1,844 |
| 26 Years |
0 |
573 |
283 |
679 |
164 |
1,699 |
| 27 Years |
0 |
547 |
331 |
660 |
147 |
1,685 |
| 28 Years |
1 |
529 |
273 |
534 |
154 |
1,491 |
| 29 Years |
0 |
501 |
269 |
556 |
141 |
1,467 |
| 30 Years |
1 |
502 |
267 |
497 |
138 |
1,405 |
| 31 Years |
0 |
484 |
207 |
481 |
118 |
1,290 |
| 32 Years |
0 |
457 |
192 |
451 |
128 |
1,228 |
| 33 Years |
0 |
466 |
171 |
406 |
106 |
1,149 |
| 34 Years |
0 |
453 |
180 |
424 |
88 |
1,145 |
| 35 Years |
0 |
486 |
184 |
417 |
111 |
1,198 |
| 36 Years |
0 |
470 |
178 |
434 |
122 |
1,204 |
| 37 Years |
1 |
503 |
210 |
438 |
99 |
1,251 |
| 38 Years |
0 |
510 |
204 |
399 |
120 |
1,233 |
| 39 Years |
0 |
475 |
165 |
414 |
135 |
1,189 |
| 40 Years |
1 |
484 |
189 |
405 |
117 |
1,196 |
| 41 Years |
2 |
470 |
179 |
422 |
137 |
1,210 |
| 42 Years |
0 |
487 |
181 |
437 |
123 |
1,228 |
| 43 Years |
1 |
551 |
198 |
383 |
112 |
1,245 |
| 44 Years |
1 |
554 |
166 |
439 |
112 |
1,272 |
| 45 Years |
2 |
504 |
176 |
444 |
129 |
1,255 |
| 46 Years |
0 |
507 |
179 |
410 |
144 |
1,240 |
| 47 Years |
1 |
522 |
173 |
418 |
138 |
1,252 |
| 48 Years |
0 |
554 |
154 |
391 |
112 |
1,211 |
| 49 Years |
0 |
518 |
152 |
427 |
112 |
1,209 |
| 50 Years |
0 |
515 |
165 |
406 |
125 |
1,211 |
| 51 Years |
0 |
501 |
156 |
395 |
121 |
1,173 |
| 52 Years |
1 |
499 |
130 |
345 |
103 |
1,078 |
| 53 Years |
0 |
466 |
110 |
351 |
107 |
1,034 |
| 54 Years |
0 |
451 |
109 |
326 |
104 |
990 |
| 55 Years |
0 |
439 |
87 |
341 |
91 |
958 |
| 56 Years |
0 |
445 |
91 |
322 |
112 |
970 |
| 57 Years |
1 |
427 |
72 |
282 |
74 |
856 |
| 58 Years |
0 |
420 |
57 |
301 |
75 |
853 |
| 59 Years |
0 |
390 |
62 |
255 |
93 |
800 |
| 60 Years |
0 |
404 |
55 |
276 |
79 |
814 |
| 61 Years |
0 |
415 |
52 |
237 |
90 |
794 |
| 62 Years |
1 |
352 |
50 |
226 |
72 |
701 |
| 63 Years |
0 |
324 |
36 |
199 |
58 |
617 |
| 64 Years |
0 |
287 |
26 |
196 |
45 |
554 |
| 65 Years |
0 |
272 |
33 |
210 |
42 |
557 |
| 66 Years |
0 |
225 |
27 |
174 |
48 |
474 |
| 67 Years |
0 |
242 |
17 |
171 |
38 |
468 |
| 68 Years |
1 |
202 |
17 |
160 |
38 |
418 |
| 69 Years |
0 |
217 |
13 |
166 |
32 |
428 |
| 70 Years |
1 |
231 |
13 |
169 |
42 |
456 |
| 71 Years |
0 |
231 |
17 |
148 |
30 |
426 |
| 72 Years |
0 |
182 |
11 |
133 |
37 |
363 |
| 73 Years |
0 |
191 |
13 |
137 |
38 |
379 |
| 74 Years |
0 |
201 |
4 |
144 |
23 |
372 |
| 75 Years |
0 |
180 |
5 |
137 |
27 |
349 |
| 76 Years |
0 |
175 |
6 |
123 |
36 |
340 |
| 77 Years |
0 |
185 |
9 |
131 |
32 |
357 |
| 78 Years |
0 |
175 |
7 |
149 |
26 |
357 |
| 79 Years |
0 |
187 |
4 |
122 |
38 |
351 |
| 80 Years |
0 |
170 |
4 |
121 |
26 |
321 |
| 81 Years |
1 |
130 |
6 |
137 |
18 |
292 |
| 82 Years |
0 |
148 |
4 |
129 |
22 |
303 |
| 83 Years |
0 |
146 |
1 |
111 |
16 |
274 |
| 84 Years |
0 |
121 |
3 |
94 |
14 |
232 |
| 85 Years |
0 |
111 |
3 |
100 |
20 |
234 |
| 86 Years |
0 |
116 |
2 |
80 |
22 |
220 |
| 87 Years |
0 |
84 |
4 |
50 |
11 |
149 |
| 88 Years |
0 |
71 |
0 |
66 |
11 |
148 |
| 89 Years |
0 |
51 |
0 |
47 |
7 |
105 |
| 90 Years |
0 |
45 |
0 |
43 |
6 |
94 |
| 91 Years |
0 |
34 |
1 |
37 |
5 |
77 |
| 92 Years |
0 |
31 |
2 |
34 |
6 |
73 |
| 93 Years |
0 |
22 |
2 |
26 |
4 |
54 |
| 94 Years |
0 |
17 |
0 |
16 |
2 |
35 |
| 95 Years |
0 |
12 |
0 |
8 |
1 |
21 |
| 96 Years |
0 |
4 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
7 |
| 97 Years
or Older |
0 |
2 |
0 |
8 |
1 |
11 |
| Unknown |
0 |
344 |
32 |
919 |
394 |
1,689 |
| Total |
25 |
32,531 |
9,447 |
34,628 |
7,395 |
84,026 |
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