How Many People Die in Drink-Driving Crashes in the US Each Year?

Quick answer: 11,904 people were killed in alcohol-impaired driving crashes in the United States in 2024, according to NHTSA's Traffic Safety Facts for 2024. That is 30% of all 39,254 US traffic deaths that year, or about one person every 44 minutes. The toll fell 3.9% from 12,382 deaths in 2023, the second annual fall in a row, but drink-driving remains one of the biggest single killers on American roads.

The headline numbers

• 11,904 people killed in alcohol-impaired crashes in 2024.
• 30% of all US traffic deaths that year.
• 12,382 deaths in 2023, so the 2024 toll is 3.9% lower.
• One death every 44 minutes on average across the year.
• 8,097 of the deaths, or 68%, happened in crashes where at least one driver had a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.15 or higher, nearly twice the legal limit in most states.
• 11,367 of the 55,620 drivers involved in fatal crashes in 2024, or 20%, were alcohol-impaired.

NHTSA counts a driver as alcohol-impaired at a BAC of 0.08 grams per decilitre or higher. That is the legal limit in every state except Utah, where it is 0.05. Where a driver's BAC test result was unknown, NHTSA estimates it, so the totals are estimates rather than exact counts.

Who is killed

Drink-driving does not only kill the driver who drank. Of the 11,904 people killed in 2024:

• 7,247 were the impaired drivers themselves, or 61%.
• 1,483 were passengers travelling with an impaired driver, or 12%.
• 1,858 were occupants of other vehicles, or 16%.
• 1,316 were pedestrians and cyclists, or 11%.

Almost three-quarters of those killed were in the impaired driver's own vehicle, but more than a quarter were other people who had made no such choice. Children are among the victims: of the 1,032 traffic deaths among children aged 14 and younger in 2024, an estimated 221, or 21%, happened in alcohol-impaired crashes.

When the risk is highest

Alcohol impairment among drivers in fatal crashes was three times higher at night than during the day. By month, more alcohol-impaired deaths occur in June than in any other month, while January and February have the fewest. That pattern is worth remembering this week: Halloween falls on Saturday 31 October this year, and the dark, late-night hours are when impaired-driving risk runs highest.

Who is behind the wheel

• Drivers aged 21 to 24 had the highest share of alcohol-impaired drivers in fatal crashes, at 28% of drivers in that age group.
• 22% of male drivers in fatal crashes were alcohol-impaired, compared with 16% of female drivers.
• By vehicle type, motorcycle riders (25%) and passenger car drivers (25%) had the highest alcohol-impairment shares, followed by light truck drivers at 19% and large truck drivers at 4%.

Where the risk is highest

The share of traffic deaths that involved an alcohol-impaired driver varies widely by state. Vermont had the highest share in 2024 at 41%, followed by South Carolina and Texas at 40% each. Thirty states and the District of Columbia recorded fewer alcohol-impaired deaths than in 2023, while 19 states recorded more and one state was unchanged. Measured against miles driven, the national alcohol-impaired fatality rate was 0.36 deaths per 100 million vehicle miles travelled. South Carolina had the highest rate at 0.67, and Massachusetts the lowest at 0.16.

Counts are not risk. A small state can top a percentage list while a large state records far more deaths in absolute terms, so the share and the rate per mile both matter when comparing states. See US road deaths by state for the full state picture.

What would cut the toll

The practical answer is decided before the first drink: a designated sober driver, a taxi or rideshare, or staying put. The two consecutive annual falls show the toll can move down, but at 11,904 deaths a year it remains far from solved, and every one of those deaths involved a driver who did not need to be impaired behind the wheel.

How these numbers were counted

The figures come from NHTSA's Traffic Safety Facts: Alcohol-Impaired Driving, 2024 Data and its companion state alcohol-impaired estimates, both built on the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), the census of fatal crashes on US public roads. The 2024 figures use the 2024 Annual Report File and can be revised when the final file is published. Where a driver's blood alcohol result was unknown, NHTSA estimates it, which is why the totals are described as estimates. The legal limit referred to throughout is 0.08 grams per decilitre, except in Utah where it is 0.05.

Related reading: all Live Accident Tracker articles and world road-safety statistics.