Drunk driving is a serious problem in the Houston area that affects everyone. In all parts of the city, drunk drivers are destroying lives. Drunk driving does not happen by accident, or by mistake. Drunk driving is a decision, and when someone makes the decision to drink and drive, they place everyone at risk.
Most nights when our officers are on the scene of a crash, we find ourselves telling each other that we cannot believe how lucky someone was to survive. Sometimes we are amazed at how lucky someone was because they did not kill themselves or someone else.
There are many reasons that drunk drivers feel lucky. Many times they will make it home without causing a crash, or without getting caught. Once they are able to do this they usually will try it again, and again, and again.
There are two kinds of lucky for a drunk driver. One is the drunk that is able to make it home without crashing or going to jail. The other is the drunk that is lucky enough to survive. The victims are never this lucky.
Here are some things to think about:
The average DWI violator commits the offense 80 times per year. That is once every 4 or 5 nights.
Alcohol is involved in about 64 percent of all fatal crashes (National average as of 2007)
Over 16,000 people die in alcohol related crashes every year in the United States.
Over 1,600 people die on Texas roadways each year.
Harris County leads the Nation in alcohol related fatal crashes (per capita amongst the most populated counties in America) year after year.
These alcohol related crashes, injuries, and fatalities cost society at least $54 billion in lost productivity, medical costs, property damage and other direct expenditures. Over $8 billion of these costs are for health care alone.
In Texas, one in every three persons within their lifetime will have a friend or family member injured or killed by an intoxicated driver.
The average BAC in Texas DWI violators is .17. That is more that twice the illegal limit.
