Fatal RoadsSearch

Edition: FARS 2024, annual fileNHTSA released it on Release dates

Fatal crashes with a driver recorded as drinking, by state

FARS records a driver as drinking in 94,191 fatal crashes in the United States from 2015 to 2024.

That is 26.3 percent of all fatal crashes.

To qualify as a FARS case, the crash had to involve a motor vehicle traveling on a trafficway customarily open to the public and must have resulted in the death of a motorist or a non-motorist within 30 days of the crash.

The set of first files, known as the Annual Report File (ARF), is released following the crash year. The ARF is replaced about a year later with a final file, which contains additional cases or updates to cases that had become available after the ARF was released.

NHTSA's words. Source: NHTSA, Fatality Analysis Reporting System Analytical User's Manual, 1975-2024 (DOT HS 813 794, April 2026), copied on .

This page rests on the FARS 2024 annual file. NHTSA released it on . NHTSA can revise the counts in the final file. Release dates

Figure 1.Driver recorded as drinking: share in the United States by year, 2015 to 2024, in percent

Table 1 has the numbers.

What the count is

A fatal crash is in this count when FARS records one or more drivers as drinking. FARS does so when police reported alcohol involvement, or when a test of the driver was positive for alcohol. The count is not a count of drivers over a limit of alcohol. It is the count of the FARS field DR_DRINK.

This data element records whether the driver was drinking.

A driver is classified as drinking (alcohol-involved) if the driver has (1) police-reported alcohol involvement, or (2) a positive alcohol test result.

Note that alcohol data is often missing. For that reason, this data element may under-count the actual number of drinking drivers.

NHTSA's words. Source: NHTSA, FARS Analytical User's Manual, 1975-2024, data element V151 Driver Drinking (DR_DRINK), copied on .

Alcohol-impaired driving (NHTSA measure)

NHTSA's own measure. It uses a blood alcohol concentration of .08 g/dL or higher, and NHTSA estimates a value when no test result is known. This site does not give this measure. Its count is not the count of drivers recorded as drinking.

Drivers are alcohol-impaired when their blood alcohol concentrations (BACs) are .08 grams per deciliter (g/dL) or higher.

Estimates of alcohol-impaired driving are generated using BAC values reported to the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) and BAC values imputed when they are not reported.

NHTSA's words. Source: NHTSA, Alcohol-Impaired Driving: 2023 Data (DOT HS 813 713), copied on .

All terms of the site

The United States by year

Table 1.Share of fatal crashes with a driver recorded as drinking in the United States, by year
YearShare, in percent
202424.8
202325.6
202226.2
202126.3
202026.7
201925.8
201825.7
201726.9
201626.8
201528.3
201429.4
201330.4
201230.7
201130.9
201031.7
200932.7
200832.6
2007n/a
2006n/a
2005n/a
2004n/a
2003n/a
2002n/a
2001n/a
2000n/a
1999n/a
199830.0
199730.1
199632.0
199532.7
199433.2
199335.1
199236.9
199138.7
199040.3
198939.5
198840.1
198742.1
198642.5
198540.3
198441.0
198341.0
198241.5
1981n/a
198040.4
197938.8
197835.5
1977n/a
197620.5
197519.4

Note: the share is the share of fatal crashes with a driver recorded as drinking.

Note: NHTSA says that its count of drinking drivers is unreliable for 1977, 1981 and 1999 to 2007. This site gives no share for these years.

Note: for the years before 2015 the count is from the FARS element DRUNK_DR. It counts a blood alcohol concentration of .01 g/dL or more. From 2015 the count is from DR_DRINK and counts .001 g/dL or more.

Each state

Table 2.Share of fatal crashes with a driver recorded as drinking: count and share of each state, 2015 to 2024, in name order
StateCountAll deaths in the stateShare, in percent
Alabama2,2389,60525.4
Alaska22072233.6
Arizona2,17510,93921.8
Arkansas1,4115,84626.5
California10,21439,70227.9
Colorado2,0496,51834.1
Connecticut9612,98334.3
Delaware3021,28725.0
District of Columbia8033525.2
Florida6,28732,68120.7
Georgia2,87515,80119.6
Hawaii3121,03532.1
Idaho6732,38731.2
Illinois2,84711,42327.2
Indiana1,5918,77319.6
Iowa7983,47725.4
Kansas8174,04522.5
Kentucky1,7897,68425.3
Louisiana2,3118,04530.9
Maine5451,59336.9
Maryland1,4495,54827.9
Massachusetts1,0333,66529.7
Michigan2,75210,56728.1
Minnesota1,1464,11130.3
Mississippi1,1797,05718.5
Missouri2,4239,55727.5
Montana8192,04643.9
Nebraska6802,34632.6
Nevada9453,55728.9
New Hampshire3711,22832.7
New Jersey1,2776,15022.0
New Mexico9724,09626.4
New York2,01810,68220.2
North Carolina3,55615,19225.3
North Dakota3821,06039.7
Ohio3,48611,89931.7
Oklahoma1,6386,76526.5
Oregon1,4755,21131.0
Pennsylvania2,76311,65025.4
Rhode Island22260139.1
South Carolina3,12010,47332.2
South Dakota4101,32334.9
Tennessee2,62011,57624.5
Texas9,11939,61625.5
Utah5842,82422.7
Vermont20564334.7
Virginia2,3918,66429.4
Washington1,8006,25731.1
West Virginia6852,72627.2
Wisconsin1,8155,95933.4
Wyoming3611,26032.5

Note: "Count" is fatal crashes. The share shows the kind of crash that a state has. It does not show how many crashes the state has.

The other factors

Cite this page

Fatal Roads. Fatal crashes with a driver recorded as drinking, by state. https://fatalroads.com/factor/alcohol/. Source: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Fatality Analysis Reporting System, FARS 2024 annual file. Data to .

The address of this page does not change.

Source of the figures

Counts: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Fatality Analysis Reporting System, vehicle and person files of 2015 to 2024. Data to . How the figures are made.