Improving safety on the roads is a common goal for many people and entities. Vehicle manufacturers develop new technologies to aid drivers and prevent collisions. Legislators enact laws designed to encourage safe driving.
However, while safety does often seem to take center stage, many people continue to die on New Jersey roads and highways. Far too many of these deaths involve drunk drivers who simply refuse to take safety seriously.
New Jersey drunk driving realities
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 107 people died in drunk driving accidents across the Garden State in 2015. These people accounted for 19% of the state’s total vehicular fatalities that year. Accident deaths involving alcohol increased the following year to 134, representing 22% of all accident fatalities. The subsequent two years saw a decline followed by another rise in these deaths.
In 2018, fatalities in wrecks in which alcohol was a stated factor increased while overall traffic fatalities across the state decreased.
Various factors in DUI deaths
A fact sheet published by the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General indicates that drivers between the ages of 21 and 44 were involved in more than 75% of all drunk driving deaths in 2017.
That same year, fatal accidents occurring over a weekend involved a significantly higher percent of impaired drivers that did fatal crashes that occurred during the week. Similarly, dark conditions played into the volume of drunk driving deaths. Nine percent of all drivers in daytime fatal crashes in 2017 were found to be impaired by alcohol. In contrast, 32% of all drivers in nighttime fatal crashes that year were found to be impaired by alcohol.