Drunk and Impaired Driving

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(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 10,228 people were killed in alcohol-related traffic crashes in 2010. 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.

View NCSL's online resources for Alcohol Impaired/Drunk Driving and Drugged Driving

Other featured NCSL resources are listed to the right.

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Updated February 2013