What share of U.S. traffic deaths involve an alcohol-impaired driver?

In 2024, 30% of U.S. traffic deaths, about 11,900 people, were in crashes where a driver had a blood alcohol level of .08 or more, the legal limit in every state but Utah (.05). The share fell from 48% in 1982 to about 30% by the late 1990s and has stayed near 30% since. Many drivers in fatal crashes aren't tested, so NHTSA estimates the missing levels statistically; these are its estimates.

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Key facts

Measure: Percent of traffic deaths. Written from the data below.

  • The latest figure, for 2024, is 30.3%.
  • That is down 17.7 percentage points from 48% in 1982.
  • The highest was 48% in 1982.
  • The lowest was 28% in 2019.

Source and date

Source
NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS)
License
Public domain (U.S. government work)
Data as of
Published

Citation

Chartly. “What share of U.S. traffic deaths involve an alcohol-impaired driver?” Chart. Data: NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), https://www.nhtsa.gov/research-data/fatality-analysis-reporting-system-fars (data as of December 31, 2024). https://chart.ly/charts/alcohol-impaired-traffic-deaths (accessed October 15, 2026).

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The data

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The file has the numbers in this table, with the source, license and date. Please credit the source and Chartly.

Year Percent of traffic deaths
1982 48
1983 47.1
1984 44.4
1985 41.4
1986 42.4
1987 40.6
1988 39.5
1989 38.4
1990 39.7
1991 38.1
1992 35.8
1993 34.2
1994 32.9
1995 32.2
1996 32
1997 30.4
1998 30.2
1999 30.1
2000 31.8
2001 31.5
2002 31.3
2003 30.5
2004 30.6
2005 31.2
2006 31.6
2007 31.6
2008 31.3
2009 31.8
2010 30.7
2011 30.4
2012 30.6
2013 30.7
2014 30.4
2015 29
2016 29
2017 29
2018 29.1
2019 28
2020 30.1
2021 31.5
2022 31.5
2023 30.2
2024 30.3

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