Connecticut residents have many things to be proud of when it comes to their state. However, there is one area in which the state is leading the nation but that does not represent one of the areas that offer residents a reason to feel positive about where they live. That area involves drunk driving deaths.
A report on New Year’s Eve 2018 by the Hartford Courant exposed a sobering reality. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration records from 2017 show that Connecticut holds the unfortunate distinction of recording the second-highest percentage of drunk driving deaths among all vehicular fatalities in the country. The District of Columbia is in the number one position. For Connecticut, in 2017 drunk drivers claimed the lives of 43% of all people who were killed in motor vehicle accidents. Across all 50 states and D.C., alcohol was involved in 29% of all vehicular fatalities that year.
According to Responsibility.org, 12 of the 120 people who were killed in drunk driving crashes in Connecticut that year were 20 years old or younger. When looking at all vehicular deaths for people 20 and younger, alcohol was involved in more than 52% of the deaths.
Between 2008 and 2017, drunk driving deaths in the United States dropped by more than seven percent. In Connecticut, however, they increased by more than 26%. Drunk driving deaths among people 20 and younger dropped almost 29% nationwide but rose a whopping 100% in Connecticut. These numbers highlight a sad reality for Connecticut residents and indicate a strong need for people to take action when an accident involving an impaired driver occurs.
