Victims of impaired driving crashes are not hurt accidentally. A driver commits the crime of impaired driving whenever his or her ability to safely operate a vehicle is impaired by the effects of illegal drugs, prescription medications, or over-the-counter medications, or by having a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.08 grams per deciliter or higher. Vision and depth perception become distorted, coordination is slowed, and judgment is negatively affected. 6 What Is Impaired Driving?Īlcohol and other drugs, when used in excess or incorrectly, impair driving by altering the brain’s ability to function.
An additional 6 percent involved drivers with a BAC of between. In 2009, 32 percent of traffic fatalities involved drivers with a BAC of 0.08 grams per deciliter or higher. In 2009, 14 percent of child traffic fatalities-181 deaths-were caused by alcohol-impaired drivers. In 2009, an average of 1 alcohol-related fatality occurred every 48 minutes in the United States. 2Ībout 3 in every 10 Americans will be involved in an alcohol-related crash at some time in their lives. In 2009, the holidays on which alcohol-related crashes represented the highest percentage of total fatalities were Memorial Day (42 percent), New Year’s Day and the Fourth of July (40 percent each), and Labor Day (38 percent). In 2009, 10,839 people were killed in crashes involving alcohol-impaired drivers in the United States.
0 kommentar(er)
