Drunken-Driving Crashes Down Nationwide; But Drug-Related Driving Up

A federal agency says that progress is being made in reducing the number of drunken drivers at the same time that more drivers are using drugs.

In a survey conducted in 2007, 2.2 percent of drivers had a blood-alcohol content of 0.8 percent or higher, which would exceed the limit for driving while intoxicated in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. That compares to the first survey in 1973, when 7.5 percent of drivers above the 0.8 limit.

You can find the CNN story here.

Still, 13,000 people are killed each year in drunken-driving accidents. And 16.3 percent of nighttime weekend driving arrested people tested positive for drugs: The most common drug was marijuana (8.6 percent), cocaine (3.9 percent) and over-the-counter/prescription drugs (3.9 percent).

Here's the news release from NHTSA.

Unfortunately, the data isn't as good in West Virginia. Fatalities per million miles traveled and alcohol-impaired driving fatalities per 100 million miles traveled both went up, and are higher than the national average.