1. Introduction
This report presents statistics on the extent of alcohol involvement in fatal motor vehicle traffic crashes in the United States for 2003. The data presented in this report is from the 2003 Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) Annual Report File (ARF). The data represents a combination of actual blood alcohol concentration (BAC) test results and estimated1 BAC values for those drivers and nonoccupants (pedestrians and pedalcyclists) for whom BAC test results are not reported.
A motor vehicle traffic crash is considered to be alcohol-related if at least one driver or nonoccupant (such as a pedestrian or pedalcyclist) involved in the crash is determined to have had a BAC of .01 gram per deciliter (g/dL) or higher. Thus, any fatality that occurs in an alcohol-related crash is considered an alcohol-related fatality. The term alcohol-related does not indicate that a crash or fatality was caused by the presence of alcohol. A motor vehicle traffic crash can be identified as an alcohol-related crash under one of the following scenarios:
- Drivers are the only persons with alcohol (BAC=.01+).
- Nonoccupants (pedestrians or pedalcyclists) are the only persons with alcohol.
- Both driver(s) and nonoccupant(s) have alcohol.
In 2003, NHTSA reported that 15,251 fatal crashes were alcohol-related. There were 17,013 fatalities, or about 40 percent of all fatalities, in such crashes. This was the first year since 1999 when alcohol-related fatalities showed a decline from the previous year. Figure 1 depicts the trend of alcohol-related fatalities, as number and percent of all fatalities, since 1982 -- the first year when NHTSA reported estimates of alcohol involvement in fatal crashes.
Figure 1: Alcohol-Related Fatalities as Number and Percent of all Fatalities, 1982-2003
Table 1 summarizes the alcohol-related fatal crashes and fatalities in 2003 by the highest BAC level in the crash (among drivers and nonoccupants).
Table 1: Alcohol-Related Crashes and Fatalities by Highest BAC in the Crash, 2003
| Crashes/Fatalities | Highest BAC Level in Crash |
|||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Not Alcohol-Related |
Alcohol-Related |
|||||||
.00 |
.01 – .07 |
.08+ |
Total (Alc-Rel) |
|||||
Number |
Percent |
Number |
Percent |
Number |
Percent |
Number |
Percent |
|
| Crashes | 23,001 |
60% |
2,115 |
6% |
13,136 |
34% |
15,251 |
40% |
| Fatalities | 25,630 |
60% |
2,383 |
6% |
14,630 |
34% |
17,013 |
40% |
| Source: NCSA FARS 2003 (ARF). Note: Numbers and percentages may not add to total due to independent rounding. | ||||||||
About 40 percent of all motor vehicle fatal crashes/fatalities are alcohol-related. A majority, about 86 percent [13,136/15,251], of the alcohol-related crashes involved at least one driver or nonoccupant with a BAC of .08 or above. Table 2 depicts the crashes shown in table 1 by the role of the person(s) who had alcohol and the highest BAC level of those persons. The highest BAC level is the highest BAC of the persons of the same role who are involved in the same crash. The breakdown in fatal crashes in table 1 does not add up to 15,251, as some crashes do not have at least one coded driver or nonoccupant in them.
Table 2: Alcohol-Related Crashes by Role of Person With Alcohol, 2003
| Role of Non-Sober Person | Highest BAC Level of Person |
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
.01 – .07 |
.08+ |
Total (Alc-Rel) |
||||
Crashes |
Percent |
Crashes |
Percent |
Crashes |
Percent |
|
| Driver Only1 | 1,924 |
13% |
11,235 |
74% |
13,159 |
86% |
| Nonoccupant Only2 | 174 |
1% |
1,432 |
9% |
1,606 |
11% |
| Driver and Nonoccupant3 | 13 |
0% |
442 |
3% |
454 |
3% |
| Others4 | 4 |
0% |
27 |
0% |
31 |
0% |
| Total | 2,115 |
14% |
13,136 |
86% |
15,251 |
100% |
| Source: NCSA FARS 2003 (ARF). Note: Numbers and percentages may not add to total due to independent rounding. 1Drivers were the only persons to have alcohol. No nonoccupant had alcohol 2Nonoccupants were the only persons to have alcohol. No drivers had alcohol 3At least one driver and one nonoccupant involved in the crash had alcohol. 4Residual alcohol-related crashes that do not have any coded driver or nonoccupant in them. |
||||||
As seen in table 2, in a majority (about 86 %) of the alcohol-related fatal crashes, one or more drivers had a BAC of .01 or above, and those crashes did not involve a nonoccupant with a positive BAC. In a small proportion, about 11 percent (1,606 crashes), of all alcohol-related fatal crashes, the only person(s) with alcohol was a nonoccupant(s). The remaining crashes, about 3 percent of all alcohol-related fatal crashes, involved both a driver as well as a nonoccupant with positive BAC.
In about three-quarters of all alcohol-related crashes, the driver, while the only person with alcohol in the crash, also had a BAC of .08 or above (11,235 out of 15,251 fatal crashes).
Table 3 depicts the fatalities that occurred in the crashes as described in table 2.
Table 3: Alcohol-Related Fatalities by Role of Person With Alcohol, 2003
| Role of Non-Sober Person | Highest BAC Level of Person |
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
.01 – .07 |
.08+ |
Total (Alc-Rel) |
||||
Fatalities |
Percent |
Fatalities |
Percent |
Fatalities |
Percent |
|
| Driver Only1 | 2,183 |
13% |
12,661 |
75% |
14,844 |
87% |
| Nonoccupant Only2 | 180 |
1% |
1,468 |
9% |
1,647 |
10% |
| Driver and Nonoccupant3 | 14 |
0% |
464 |
3% |
478 |
3% |
| Others4 | 7 |
0% |
37 |
0% |
44 |
0% |
| Total | 2,383 |
14% |
14,630 |
86% |
17,013 |
100% |
| Source: NCSA FARS 2003 (ARF). Note: Numbers and percentages may not add to total due to independent rounding. 1Drivers were the only persons to have alcohol. No nonoccupant had alcohol 2Nonoccupants were the only persons to have alcohol. No drivers had alcohol 3At least one driver and one nonoccupant involved in crash had alcohol. 4Residual alcohol-related fatalities that occurred in crashes that do not have any coded driver or nonoccupant in them. |
||||||
The percentages depicted in table 3 show a high correlation with those for the crashes, as depicted in table 2. Table 4 depicts the proportion of drivers, motorcycle operators, and nonoccupants with alcohol. As shown in table 4, a total of 58,156 drivers/motorcycle operators were involved in fatal crashes in 2003. Among the drivers, 12,909, or 24 percent had alcohol, whereas 1,351 or 36 percent of the motorcycle operators had alcohol. Also, 23,258 drivers were fatally injured and 8,406 of those had alcohol. Among the 3,382 fatally injured motorcycle operators, 1,243 had alcohol. A greater proportion of motorcycle operators involved in fatal crashes had alcohol as compared to drivers of other vehicles and nonoccupants.
Table 4: Drivers/Motorcycle Operators Involved in Fatal Crashes by Their BAC and
Injury Severity, 2003
| Role | Injury Severity |
Total |
|||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
FATAL |
SURVIVED |
||||||||
Total |
BAC=.01+ |
Total |
BAC=.01+ |
Total |
BAC=.01+ |
||||
Number |
Number |
Percent |
Number |
Number |
Percent |
Number |
Number |
Percent |
|
| Drivers | 23,258 |
8,406 |
36% |
31,149 |
4,503 |
14% |
54,407 |
12,909 |
24% |
| Motorcycle Operators | 3,382 |
1,243 |
37% |
367 |
108 |
29% |
3,749 |
1,351 |
36% |
| Total | 26,640 |
9,649 |
36% |
31,516 |
4,611 |
15% |
58,156 |
14,260 |
25% |
| Nonoccupants | 5,450 |
1,964 |
36% |
564 |
182 |
32% |
6,014 |
2,146 |
36% |
| All | 32,090 |
11,613 |
36% |
32,080 |
4,793 |
15% |
64,170 |
16,406 |
26% |
| Source: NCSA FARS 2003 (ARF). Note: Numbers and percentages may not add to total due to independent rounding. | |||||||||
1The estimates are made using Multiple Imputation, a new model developed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (Rubin, [ 2 ]; Subramanian, [ 3 ])