State Drunk Driving Stats Show Decline in Fatalities

The annual 2002 Michigan Drunk Driving report reveals a uniform decrease in the number of fatal crashes and fatalities involving alcohol and/or drugs. The Michigan State Police, Criminal Justice Information Center, issues the report that provides a snapshot of the drunk driving arrests, fatalities and convictions. The extensive report provides detailed information, including arrest activity by law enforcement agency for each county in the state as well as crash, injury and fatality information by county.

One change noted by the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI), which conducted a brief review of the report, was that the number of crash-related arrests increased slightly for women, up 3 percent from 2001. However, men continue to far outweigh women in the number of drunk driving arrests. Of the people arrested, 46,076 were men and 11,713 were women.

In 2002, 463 people died in alcohol and/or drug-involved crashes, down from 503 in 2001. During the same year, 57,789 people were arrested for drunk or impaired driving, down from 58,562 in 2001. Of the 55,227 people arrested for operating under the influence of liquor (OUIL), 26,330 were convicted of that offense. Another 28,770 were convicted of impaired driving.

"We were pleased to find that according to the UMTRI review, the rates of injury-crashes, fatal crashes, property-damage crashes and arrests in our state generally decreased," said Michigan State Police Director, Colonel Tadarial J. Sturdivant. "This decrease is notable in the fact that it is a continuation of a steady decrease dating from at least 1999."

Under the repeat offender laws, which took effect October 1999, repeat offenders face a number of harsh penalties designed to limit access to vehicles including license plate confiscation, mandatory vehicle immobilization and possible vehicle forfeiture.

"We are doing more to encourage this positive trend," said Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land. "Better information sharing between courts and the state, and tougher legal standards for drinking and driving, are just some of the initiatives being pursued that will make our roads safer. But drunken-driving remains a difficult problem that demand's Michigan's continued commitment."