 State Drunk Driving Laws
(Note: NCSL cannot provide advice or legal assistance to those arrested for or convicted of drunk driving. Please consult a qualified attorney in your area.)
According to NHTSA, approximately 17,602 people were killed in alcohol-related traffic crashes in 2006. It is also estimated that 1.5 million people are arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs. Impaired driving continues to be a serious traffic safety and public health issue for states. State legislatures have introduced and enacted a variety of laws related to impaired driving in the past couple of years. The ultimate goal is to reduce to the incidence of impaired driving and keep the roads as safe as possible. Lawmakers considered legislation ranging from stricter penalties and high blood alcohol concentration (BAC) offenses, to treatment, ignition interlocks and breath tests. Other bills deal with special license plates, detainment of arrestees, vehicle impoundments or forfeitures, open containers, evidence, computation of prior offenses, alcohol monitoring, drunk driving with minors in the vehicle, and proposed task forces or commissions to study the problem in depth.
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State Drunk Driving Charts
NCSL Publications
- "Traffic Safety and Public Health: State Legislative Action 2008," Transportation Series No. 33, April 2009, by Melissa Savage, Anne Teigen and Nicholas Farber.
- Lowering the Minimum Legal Drinking Age, LegisBrief, January 2009 Ignition Interlock Laws, LegisBrief, April/May 2008
- Ignition Interlocks: Turn the Key and Blow, State Legislatures, December 2007
- Extreme Drunk Driving, LegisBrief, February 2007
- Refusing a Drunk Driving Tests, LegisBrief, January 2005
- Driving Drunk with Kids in Car, LegisBrief, February 2003
Other Resources
Staff Contacts
Melissa Savage
Anne Teigen
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