CT: Feds: CT leads U.S. in alcohol-impaired-driver deaths
January 2, 2019
Connecticut recorded the highest rate of alcohol-impaired-driving fatalities in 2017 among all U.S. states, according to new federal statistics.
Of the state’s 278 fatal crashes in 2017, a total of 120, or 43 percent, involved a driver with a blood alcohol level of 0.08 or more, the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) said. That’s the highest rate of any state and was surpassed only by the District of Columbia, which reported 31 total fatal crashes, or 52 percent involving alcohol, in 2017, NHTSA said.
Nationally, fatal crashes involving an impaired driver decreased by 1.1 percent from 2016 to 2017, accounting for 29 percent of car crash deaths.
The 29 percent fatality mark is the nation’s lowest percentage since NHTSA began tracking the data in 1982. In total, there were 112 less alcohol-related driving deaths in the U.S. in 2017.
Rhode Island narrowly trailed Connecticut’s poor rate, coming in second with 41 percent of fatal crashes involving alcohol-impaired-driving in 2017. Trailing were Massachusetts (34 percent), Maine (29 percent) and New Hampshire and Vermont (26 percent).