•December 30, 2015•

Drunk driving fatalities remain consistent; police aim to save lives

The Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT), Illinois State Police (ISP) and 170 police and sheriff’s departments today kicked off an all-out effort to keep drunk drivers off Illinois roads this holiday season. The end-of-year campaign comes as new National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) statistics indicate that while Illinois drunk driving fatalities are not increasing, they are not declining, either.

“This most recent data clearly shows drunk driving is still very much a problem in Illinois and the nation,” said IDOT Director of Traffic Safety, Jared Thornley. “This holiday season don’t put yourself or others at risk because, chances are, you’ll be caught.”

In 2011, NHTSA estimates there were 278 drunk driving fatalities (motor vehicle deaths involving at least one driver with a BAC of.08 or higher) in Illinois. But in 2012 and 2013, the number increased to 322, a 15 percent increase from 2011. There was a slight decrease in 2014, with 317 drunk driving fatalities in Illinois in 2014, according to NHTSA estimates. As recently as 2007, there were 439 drunk driving fatalities in Illinois.

Nationally, drunk driving fatalities decreased just one percent, from 10,076 in 2013 to 9,967 in 2014. The statistics for 2015 will be available in late 2016. Click here for a year-by-year breakdown for Illinois and nationally.     Login or Subscribe to read the rest of this story.