Drunk driving is the act of operating a motor vehicle with the operator's ability to do so impaired as a result of alcohol consumption, or with a blood alcohol level in excess of the legal limit. In most states, for drivers 21 years or older, driving with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.08% or higher is illegal. For drivers under 21 years old, the legal limit is lower, with state limits ranging from 0.00 to 0.02. Stricter BAC limits apply when operating boats, airplanes, or commercial vehicles. Among other names, the criminal offense of drunk driving may be called driving under the influence (DUI), driving while intoxicated or impaired (DWI), operating (a) vehicle under the influence of alcohol (OVI), or operating while impaired (OWI).
Notability Prevalence According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, approximately 1.5 million drunk driving arrests were made nationwide in 1996. In 1997 an estimated 513,200 DUI offenders were under correctional supervision, down from 593,000 in 1990 and up from 270,100 in 1986.
The Bureau of Justice Statistics estimated that in 1996 local law enforcement agencies made 1,467,300 arrests nationwide for driving under the influence of alcohol, 1 out of every 10 arrests for all crimes in the U.S., compared to 1.9 million such arrests during the peak year in 1983, accounting for 1 out of every 80 licensed drivers in the U.S. This represented a 220% increase in DUI arrests from 1970 to 1986, while the number of licensed drivers increased by just 42% in the same period.
The arrest rate for alcohol-related offenses among Native Americans was more than double that for the total population during 1996, and almost 4 in 10 Native Americans held in local jails had been charged with a public order offense, most commonly driving while intoxicated. In 2012, 29.1 million people admitted to driving under the influence of alcohol.Results from the 2012 National Survey on Drug Use and Health: Summary of National Findings.
Recent analysis has shown cities in which ride sharing services operate show mixed results as to whether the availability of those services affects rates of impaired driving.
Traffic collisions, injuries and fatalities
The risk of having a traffic collision increases with a higher BAC.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimates that about 18,000 people died in 2006 from alcohol-related collisions, representing 40% of total traffic deaths in the US. Over the decade 2001–2010, this rate showed only a 3% variation, and no trend.
Drivers with a BAC of 0.10% are 6 to 12 times more likely to get into a fatal collision or injury than drivers without positive blood alcohol. The NHTSA states 275,000 were injured in alcohol-related collisions in 2003. Approximately 60% of the BAC values for motor vehicle collisions are missing or unknown. To analyze what they believe is the complete data, statisticians estimate BAC information.
The NHTSA defines fatal collisions as "alcohol-related" if they believe the driver, a passenger, or non-motorist (such as a pedestrian or pedal cyclist) had a blood alcohol content (BAC) of 0.01% or greater. The NHTSA defines nonfatal collisions as alcohol-related if the crash report indicates evidence of alcohol present, even if no driver or occupant was tested for alcohol. The NHTSA specifically notes that alcohol-related does not necessarily mean a driver or non-occupant was tested for alcohol and that the term does not indicate a collision or fatality was caused by the presence of alcohol. If anyone involved in the crash (even a passenger) has a BAC of 0.01% or greater, then the NHTSA classifies the crash as alcohol-related. Alcohol-related injuries were estimated at 275,000 in 2003.DOT HS 809775, a.k.a. Traffic Safety Facts 2003
According to NTSB, 100,000 people have died in alcohol-impaired driving crashes between the NTSB issued its 2013 Reaching Zero report and 2022.
Laws and regulations For the most part, DUI or DWI are synonymous terms that represent the criminal offense of operating (or in some jurisdictions merely being in physical control of) a motor vehicle while being under the influence of alcohol or drugs or a combination of both. The key inquiry focuses on whether the driver's faculties were impaired by the substance that was consumed. The detection and successful prosecution of drivers impaired by prescription medication or illegal drugs can therefore be difficult. Breathalyzers have been developed for the purpose of administering roadside or laboratory tests that can detect the actual level of a controlled substance in an individual's body.
History
New Jersey enacted the first law that specifically criminalized driving an automobile while intoxicated, in 1906. The New Jersey statute provided that "[n]o intoxicated person shall drive a motor vehicle." Violation of this provision was punishable by a fine of up to $500, or a term of up to 60 days in county jail.An Act Defining Motor Vehicles and Providing for the Registration of Same, 1906 N.J. Laws ch. 113, §§ 19, 35, p. 177, 186 (April 12, 1906)
Early laws, such as that enacted in New Jersey, required proof of a state of intoxication with no specific definition of what level of inebriation qualified. The first generally accepted legal BAC limit was 0.15%. New York, for example, which had enacted a prohibition on driving while intoxicated in 1910,N.Y. Stats 1910, ch. 374, p. 673, 683 § 290 (May 31, 1910) amended this law in 1941 to provide that it would constitute prima facie evidence of intoxication when an arrested person was found to have a BAC of 0.15 percent or higher, as ascertained through a test administered within two hours of arrest.An Act to Amend the Vehicle and Traffic Law, 1941 N.Y. Laws ch. 726, § 1, p. 1623 (Apr. 25, 1941)
In 1938, the American Medical Association created a "Committee to Study Problems of Motor Vehicle Accidents". At the same time, the National Safety Council set up a "Committee on Tests for Intoxication".
In the US, most of the laws and penalties were greatly enhanced starting in the late 1970s, and through the 1990s, largely due to pressure from groups like Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) and Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD) and activists like Candy Lightner whose 13-year-old daughter Cari was killed by a drunk driver. Zero tolerance laws were enacted which criminalized driving a vehicle with 0.01% or 0.02% BAC for drivers under 21. This is true even in Puerto Rico, despite maintaining a legal drinking age of 18. Research in the American Economic Review suggests that sanctions imposed at BAC thresholds are effective in reducing repeat drunk driving.
On May 14, 2013, the National Transportation Safety Board recommended that all 50 states lower the benchmark for determining when a driver is legally drunk from 0.08 blood-alcohol content to 0.05. The idea is part of an initiative to eliminate drunk driving, which accounts for about a third of all road deaths.
In 2022, this BAC reduction was implemented by Utah with success when some states failed and other did not try to implement BAC reduction.
In 2026, Nevada implemented Assembly Bill 4 (AB4), also known as the Safe Streets and Neighborhoods Act, which made harsher penalties for DUI offenses. Under this new law, drivers whose DUI offense results in death now face up to 25 years in prison for a first offense with no prior DUI convictions, and mandatory minimum terms of five years for those with one or two prior offenses, in addition to fines ranging from $2,000 to $5,000.
Federal law After the passage of federal legislation, the legal limit for commercial drivers is now set at 0.04%. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) regulation prohibits those who hold a commercial driver's license from driving with an alcohol concentration of 0.04 or greater. A commercial driver with an alcohol concentration of 0.02 or greater, but less than 0.04, must be removed from duty for 24 hours.
In 2016, the Supreme Court of the United States, in Birchfield v. North Dakota, held that both breath tests and blood tests constitute a search under the Fourth Amendment, concluding that requiring breath tests is constitutional without a search warrant; however, requiring more intrusive blood tests involving piercing the skin is not, as the goal of traffic safety can be obtained by less invasive means.
State law In construing the terms DUI, DWI, OWI and OVI, some states make it illegal to drive a motor vehicle while under the influence or driving while intoxicated while others indicate that it is illegal to operate a motor vehicle. There is a split of authority across the country regarding this issue. Some states permit enforcement of DUI, DWI, and OWI/OVI statutes based on "operation and control" of a vehicle, while others require actual "driving". "The distinction between these terms is material, for it is generally held that the word 'drive,' as used in statutes of this kind, usually denotes movement of the vehicle in some direction, whereas the word 'operate' has a broader meaning so as to include not only the motion of the vehicle, but also acts which engage the machinery of the vehicle that, alone or in sequence, will set in motion the motive power of the vehicle."State v. Graves (1977) 269 S.C. 356 [237 S.E.2d 584, 586–588, 586. fn. 8]
All states in the U.S. designate a "per se" blood or breath alcohol level as the threshold point for an independent criminal offense. This is often referred to as the "legal limit". It is a permissive presumption of guilt where the person's BAC is 0.08% or greater (units of milligrams per deciliter, representing 8 g of alcohol in 10 liters of blood).See, e.g., New York Penal Law section 1192, found at New York State Assembly web site, go to "Bill Search and Legislative Materials", then "New York State Laws". Accessed April 2, 2008. Some states (e.g., Colorado) include a lesser charge, sometimes referred to as "driving while ability impaired" that may apply to individuals with a 0.05% or above, but less than the 0.08% per se limit for the more serious charge.
All states have a "catch-all" provision designed to cover those circumstances where the person is below 0.08%, but the person still appears impaired by definition of law. These types of "catch-all" statutes cover situations involving a person under the influence of drugs or under the combined influence of alcohol and drugs. With the advent of the legalization of marijuana, these catch-all provisions cover those prosecutions pursuing those charged with driving under the influence of drugs or even drugs and alcohol.
All US states have implied consent laws which state that a licensed driver has given their consent to an evidential breathalyzer or similar manner of determining blood alcohol concentration;"DUI: Refusal to Take a Field Test, or Blood, Breath or Urine Test", NOLO Press ("As a general rule (and unlike chemical testing), there is no legal penalty for refusing to take these tests although the arresting officer can typically testify as to your refusal in court.") however, in order to sustain a conviction based on evidence from a chemical test, probable cause for arrest must be demonstrated. Field sobriety tests (FSTs or SFSTs) and preliminary breath tests (PBTs) are often used to obtain such probable cause evidence, necessary for arrest or invoking implied consent.