How Much Does Drunk Driving Cost America?
It's a story involving untold billions of dollars in government spending. It's a story involving great tragedies and pathos. Indeed, it's a killer story, all too literally.
But yet it's a story that gets little press, generates minor public interest and elicits almost zero action from politicians.
It's the story of how drunk drivers are costing the American people billions upon billions of dollars every year.
Not to mention the violent annihilation of thousands every year as well.
When we will ever wake up and start taking action with tougher sentences, required ignition locks, more efficient police methods? In the latter category, we need not only a lot more traffic checks but we need to end forever this cozy good-old-boy relationship between police chiefs and tavern owners -- a relationship that keeps patrolmen away from targeting the bars and refuses to deal seriously with saloon keepers who care more about liquor sales than they do about sending deadly drivers out on the highways.
An article dealing with one state's experience with drunk driving illustrates the problems.It's sad and scary stuff but it needs to be passed around...especially to lawmakers.
The New Mexico Department of Public Health has issued a report that quantifies and describes the human and economic effects of alcohol abuse in the state. Highlights of the report were published in the November 2009 issue of New Mexico Epidemiology.
According to the report, the costs of alcohol abuse in New Mexico amounted to $2.5 billion in 2006 – an amount 26 times greater than the $97 million in tax revenues collected that year from alcohol sales. Almost 1,000 deaths in New Mexico were attributed to alcohol in 2006, representing more than 27,000 years of potential life lost.
Among the extensive data described in the report, here are several findings that illustrate the harmful impact of alcohol in the state:
* 13% of New Mexico adults reported binge drinking in the past 30 days.
* 38.4% of 9th graders and 49% of 12th graders reported consuming alcoholic beverages on at least one occasion in the past 30 days.
* 21.3% of 9th graders and 31.4% of 12th graders reported binge drinking in the past 30 days.
