The holiday season is in full swing, and that means holiday parties are in no short supply, filled with people wearing horrible sweaters. It also means booze is readily available, and the opportunity to drive after having too much to drink is at fever pitch. According to a study by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), 30 million folks will drive drunk in an average year while another 10 million get behind the wheel under the influence of drugs. Approximately 13.2 percent of Americans over the age of 16 drove under the influence of alcohol this past year, and in some states, the amount of drunk drivers in the past year is well into the 20-percent range. A bit higher numbers than the eight percent of people who actually admit to boozing before turning the ignition key.
f you hit the road in Wisconsin, keep a sharp eye on the cars around you because 23.7 percent of drivers drove drunk this year. The same can be said for North Dakota where 22.4 percent of the driving population should have taken a cab. Rhode Island and Vermont are high on the list of states that prefer drugs to alcohol with 7.8 and 6.6 percent of drivers impaired by illicit drugs, respectively.
On the other end of the scale sit states like Utah and Mississippi that see just 7.4 and 8.7 percent of alcohol-impaired folks getting behind the wheel. New Jersey and Iowa, at 2.9 and 3.2 percent respectively, have the lowest rate of drivers operating an automobile while under the influence of drugs. It’s not all bad news however because the nationwide figure of 13.2 percent has declined from 14.6 percent of people driving while drunk. The number of folks driving while on drugs has also fallen with a previous average of 4.8 percent to this past years nationwide average of 4.3 percent.
