10% of Drivers Admit They May Have Recently Driven Drunk, according to a

new AAA Foundation Study

Alcohol-related fatalities on New Year’s Day claim two-and-a-half times

the number of lives recorded on similar adjacent days. 

NEWS from AAA South Dakota, Dec. 28 – Although traditionally a time of joy, year-end holidays are often marred by tragic motor vehicle crashes involving drunk drivers. According to new data released by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, drinking and driving is viewed as a very serious threat by 87 percent of drivers surveyed and nearly all of them disapprove of it.

However, the Foundation study also found that one in ten drivers reported having driven when they thought their alcohol level might have been close to or possibly over the legal limit within the past 12 months. Just over half of those (5.5 percent of all drivers) reported having done this more than once within the past 12 months.

Among other results, the survey found that nine out of ten Americans support requiring all drivers who have been convicted of DWI more than once to use a device that won’t let their car start if they have been drinking. And 69 percent of those surveyed support requiring all drivers convicted of DWI, including first-time offenders, to use this type of ignition interlock system.

A new analysis of National Highway Traffic Safety Administration data from 2000 to 2009 found that an average of 80 people a year are killed nationwide in alcohol-related crashes on New Year’s Day—almost two and a half times as many as on the same day of the week in other weeks around New Year’s. In 2009, 73 people were killed nationwide in alcohol-related crashes on New Year’s Day. In 2005—the last time New Year’s Day fell on a Saturday—98 people died in alcohol-related New Year’s Day crashes.

In South Dakota in 2009, alcohol played a role in 1,022 crashes which killed 61 people. That same year in South Dakota, there were 692 people injured in alcohol-related crashes.

 “Every alcohol-related fatality is preventable. It is everyone’s responsibility to make the right decision before getting behind the wheel,” said Mark Madeja, spokesman for AAA South Dakota. “That’s why AAA is asking motorists to visit TakeThePledge.AAA.com to sign a quick, free online pledge to drive only while drug-and alcohol-free this holiday season and all year long.  Once you’ve taken the pledge, you can share it via Facebook and Twitter, or even send personalized E-cards to urge others to do the same.”

South Dakotans are also encouraged to call AAA’s free Tipsy Tow service if they feel they have partied a bit too much and don’t feel safe behind the wheel after drinking alcohol. AAA will give them and their vehicle a free ride home, no questions asked. Tipsy Tow is open to AAA members and nonmembers alike in Sioux Falls, Rapid City, Mitchell, and Aberdeen now through Jan. 1, 2011. To access Tipsy Tow, call (800) AAA-HELP (222-4357) and ask for Tipsy Tow. AAA will give you, up to one additional person, and your car a free ride home within a 15-mile radius of point of pickup.

The survey findings are part of the AAA Foundation’s third annual Traffic Safety Culture Index, a nationally-representative survey conducted by Abt SRBI Inc. by telephone of 2,000 U.S. residents ages 16 and older from May 11, 2010 through June 7, 2010.

For more information about the survey and other materials related to drinking and driving visit www.AAAFoundation.org.

Established in 1947 by AAA, the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety is an independent, publicly funded, 501(c)(3) charitable research and educational organization. The AAA Foundation’s mission is to prevent traffic deaths and injuries by conducting research into their causes and by educating the public about strategies to prevent crashes and reduce injuries when they do occur. AAA South Dakota can be visited online at AAA.com.