Crash Facts

In Pennsylvania, drinking and driving remains a top safety issue. In 2010, alcohol-related crashes decreased to 12,426 from 12,71 alcohol-related crashes in 2009. Alcohol-related deaths increased to 459 from 449 in 2009.

Of particular concern is the involvement of drinking drivers under the age of 21. Thirty-one (31%) percent of the driver deaths in the 16-20 age group were drinking drivers, up from 27% in 2009. Improvement in this age group is a very important need.

Of equal focus is the 21 to 25 age group, in which 50% of the driver deaths were drinking drivers. This age group had the second worst percentage of all groups, and was up from the 44% in 2009. The 26 to 30 age group decreased to 45% from 51% in 2009.

In 2010, alcohol-related deaths were 35% of the total traffic deaths, the same as in 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2009.
Pennsylvania continues to take an aggressive posture to prevent and deter drinking and driving (particularly through the widespread use of sobriety checkpoints and saturation patrols).

Note: Beginning with 2003 data, alcohol involvement criteria changed to account for both BAC levels and suspected involvement when BAC is unknown. The effect can mostly be seen in alcohol related fatalities for years 2003 and after.

Although alcohol-related crashes accounted for approximately 10% of the total crashes in 2010, they resulted in 35% of all persons killed in crashes. Alcohol-related crashes were almost 4.5 times more likely to result in death than those not related to alcohol (3.3% of the alcohol-related crashes resulted in death, compared to 0.7% of crashes which were not alcohol-related). “PDO Crashes” in the table below refers to property damage only crashes.

Alcohol Related Crashes
Five-Year Trends

Alcohol-related crashes decreased in 2010, and were the lowest total in the last five years. Alcohol-related fatalities increased in 2010, and were the second lowest total in the last five years. “PDO Crashes” in the table below refers to property damage only crashes.

Victims of Alcohol Related Crashes

There were 415 driver and passenger deaths in alcohol-related crashes in 2010, while 378 (91%) were the drinking drivers or their passengers.

Alcohol-related crashes occurring between 8:00 PM and 4:00 AM produced the vast majority of deaths (66% of alcohol-related deaths). In contrast, over half of the deaths from non-alcohol-related crashes resulted from crashes occurring between noon and 8:00 PM.

Just under half (48%) of alcohol-related fatal crash victims were the result of crashes occurring on Saturday and Sunday, while fatal crash victims of non-alcohol-related crashes tended to be distributed more evenly through the work week with the fewest occurring on Tuesday.

In 2009, 14% of all holiday crashes involved alcohol use; however, 40% of deaths which occurred during holiday weekends were related to alcohol use.

Motorcyclists had the largest percentage of drinking drivers to total drivers compared to the drivers of other types of vehicles. Drinking drivers of light trucks, vans and sport utility vehicles were also above the average for drivers of all vehicle types. Bus and heavy truck drivers accounted for very few of the drinking drivers.

In 2010, roughly three out of four drinking drivers in crashes were male (across most age groups), with only slight variations among the age groups. The table below does not include an additional 134 drivers for whom age and/or sex were not known.

In 2010, as the table below shows, the two age groups from 21 to 30 had the highest percentage of drinking drivers within their respective age groups. After age 40, the percentage of drinking drivers within the succeeding age groups steadily declined. The under 16 age group continues to be of particular concern, as it included 10 drinking drivers.