SoCalDude

Recently I've been paying more attention to drivers driving drunk that are involved in wrecks. The most recent someone ran into a group of people. I've noticed a trend lately that their BAC is consistently higher than .20. Has anyone else noticed this trend? People seem to be drinking a considerable amount more when getting behind the wheel, makes me concerned about allowing my family to drive around on Fri/Sat nights. Also makes my heart heavy that there are still those out there suffering every day and while they may not be identified alcoholics, they may well be on their way towards being that.

Stay safe everyone.

paulokes

I'm not sure about the stats but I think casual drink driving happens less often. People are less likely to have a few drinks and drive home as a routine.

What's left is people who have less 'choice' or at least are more likely to drive despite very high readings...problem drinkers and alcoholics.

P

Mountainmanbob

It seems that here in San Diego County area we have on an average 2 or 3 people killed by drunk drivers every week on the roads and highways.

One drunk driver killer was just sentenced yesterday.
His alcohol level was 3 times the legal limit.

My last drink ended with a terrible crash of our motor home.
Grateful no one got hurt -- that time.

M-Bob

SoCalDude

As someone who has two DUIs previously in my 'old life' ... I definitely saw I had a problem. I knew the only way to solve it was sobriety. As a sober person, I'd never in my wildest dreams think about drinking and driving. However as a drunk, my judgement was majorly impaired.. I thought "It's just up the street" instead of, "Uber!" Due to that type of thinking, I knew I wasn't safe as a responsible drinker. My brain didn't make the right decisions, and I'm grateful I never wrecked, hurt anyone, etc. A big step in my recovery was going on my last DUI to the police department and officer that arrested me, and thanking him for getting me off the road that night.

tomsteve

ive been in AA since 2005. ive heard the high BAC thing of people coming to meetings and also many stories from people who had been sober for some time that had a high BAC since 2005.quite a few of oldtimers in AA that actually got a ride home from the police rather than taken to jail.
personally I think the trend is more news coverage.

SoCalDude

You may be right tomsteve, we're probably just hearing about it more..

And I've heard those stories too. A lot of these small towns like where I live don't have the staff to process DUIs and still protect the town, it's faster to drop the person off at home.. though I'd venture to say that doesn't happen as much as it used to. Local departments are starting to call in state police to handle their DUI cases.

ScottFromWI

I think we just hear about it more with the proliferation of media in our lives. I think stats indicate that drunk driving is actually in decline, but it's pretty difficult to assess statistically. I live in Wisconsin which has the most lax DUI laws in the US and it's not uncommon at all to hear about people getting their 5th, 6th, 7th or even 10th DUI. I don't think it's a felony until the 5th time but it's pretty sad no matter how you slice it. People die every weekend around here in accidents where "speed and alcohol" were a factor.

Forward12

Dui's happen all the time, all over the place. My old city use to have a weekly paper with a police blotter and there were numerous dui's daily, often times with insanely high numbers, people with revoked licenses still driving drunk, and at all hours of the day.

Talkinandwalkin

I would like to think the DUI's are just a matter of more coverage but I doubt it. I recently got new life insurance and two of the big questions were how many days do you drive a week and how many miles in a year. Kind of makes you think doesn't it. I actually saw a guy a couple of days ago get going so fast across an intersection to beat a red light he launched his new Cadillac airborne. No joke! Between the bad drivers and drunks you are taking your life in your hands every day.

Isaiah

Locally, I hear more stories that reference a more recent law regarding drunk/inebriated driving: being "super drunk" (a legal term in Michigan.) Prior to, drunk driving was only just drunk driving. Now that there's a new law that puts harsher penalties on people being above a certain limit the stories tend to mention it in stories. So in a way, yes.

JeffreyAK

These numbers are interesting, though about 10 years old, https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api...ication/811654 Most fatal crashes (70% or so) don't involve drunk drivers, but among the 30% that do involve drunk driving, 70% of those drivers are about double or more the legal BAC limit (0.15+). So if you hear about a serious crash involving drunk driving, it's very likely to involve drivers with more than double the legal limit.

Clean30

"Buzzed" drivers are everywhere. You have all the people who leave a bar which most are buzzed drivers. You have home drinkers leaving to get more beer or go to a friends house. They are everywhere!

And you also have a new generation of drunk drivers who haven't learned any lessons yet.