Chief Justice Rehnquist ruled that the 25,000 roadway deaths due to alcohol were reason enough to set aside the Fourth Amendment.
The problem is that the 25,000 number was awfully misleading. It included any highway fatality in which alcohol was in any way involved: a sober motorist striking an intoxicated pedestrian, for example.
It's a number that's still used today. In 2002, the Los Angeles Times examined accident data and estimated that in the previous year, of the 18,000 "alcohol-related" traffic fatalities that drunk driving activists cited the year before, only about 5,000 involved a drunk driver taking the life of a sober driver, pedestrian, or passenger.
Claiming that 50 percent of all highway fatalities are "alcohol related" is just as valid as saying 30 percent of all highway fatalities are "speed related" or that "road rage" accounts for 70 percent of all accidents. These are all nonsense numbers made up largely by the same agency, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Remember, this is the same agency that claimed the repeal of "55" would result in 6,000 additional fatalities. (Fatalities actually declined.)
A person distracted by a cell phone conversation or kids in the back seat can cause just as much damage and mayhem as an impaired driver.
We frequently hear that drunk drivers "cause 50% of all highway fatalities." This falls into the category of "tell a big enough lie long enough and loud enough and people will believe it."
The truth is closer to 10% of all highway fatalities are CAUSED by drunk drivers.
The federal government defines an alcohol-related fatal traffic accident as an accident where someone died and a person involved in the accident had some measurable amount of alcohol in his or her system. For example, a sober driver hits a pedestrian who has been drinking, even modestly. That's considered an alcohol-related accident. A sober driver rear-ends a driver that has had something to drink. That's considered an alcohol-related accident. A man has a drink before committing suicide in his vehicle. That's an alcohol-related accident.
The problem is that the 25,000 number was awfully misleading. It included any highway fatality in which alcohol was in any way involved: a sober motorist striking an intoxicated pedestrian, for example.
It's a number that's still used today. In 2002, the Los Angeles Times examined accident data and estimated that in the previous year, of the 18,000 "alcohol-related" traffic fatalities that drunk driving activists cited the year before, only about 5,000 involved a drunk driver taking the life of a sober driver, pedestrian, or passenger.
Claiming that 50 percent of all highway fatalities are "alcohol related" is just as valid as saying 30 percent of all highway fatalities are "speed related" or that "road rage" accounts for 70 percent of all accidents. These are all nonsense numbers made up largely by the same agency, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Remember, this is the same agency that claimed the repeal of "55" would result in 6,000 additional fatalities. (Fatalities actually declined.)
A person distracted by a cell phone conversation or kids in the back seat can cause just as much damage and mayhem as an impaired driver.
We frequently hear that drunk drivers "cause 50% of all highway fatalities." This falls into the category of "tell a big enough lie long enough and loud enough and people will believe it."
The truth is closer to 10% of all highway fatalities are CAUSED by drunk drivers.
The federal government defines an alcohol-related fatal traffic accident as an accident where someone died and a person involved in the accident had some measurable amount of alcohol in his or her system. For example, a sober driver hits a pedestrian who has been drinking, even modestly. That's considered an alcohol-related accident. A sober driver rear-ends a driver that has had something to drink. That's considered an alcohol-related accident. A man has a drink before committing suicide in his vehicle. That's an alcohol-related accident.
