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Drunken | Impaired Driving

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Drunken Driving

This page reviews current U.S. state drunk driving laws.

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Drugged Driving | Marijuana-Impaired Driving

With the passage adult use laws in four states, and medical marijuana laws in many others, there is increased interest in marijuana-impaired driving. Check out this 50-state map that shows marijuana impaired driving and state marijuana laws.

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Drunk | Impaired Driving

All Documents

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Criminal Status of State Drunken Driving Laws

Every state has penalties for drivers who operate vehicles while intoxicated. Some do not classify impaired driving offenses as crimes, while others consider driving while intoxicated a misdemeanor criminal offense. This chart provides information about criminal charges related to driving while intoxicated for every state.

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State Ignition Interlock Laws

Find out state-specific laws relating to ignition interlock laws. All 50 states have some sort of ignition interlock law.

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Overview

According to NHTSA, approximately 10,265 people were killed in alcohol-related traffic crashes in 2015, accounting for 29 percent of the total motor vehicle traffic fatalities in the United States. It is also estimated that 1.5 million people are arrested each year 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. Proposed state legislation ranges 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.