In the U.S., each year approximately 3 million people are injured and around 40,000 people are killed in traffic collisions. Motor vehicle collisions are the leading cause of death for people ages 3 to 33.
Among those killed, teenage drivers have the highest death rates per miles driven among all age groups, followed by elderly drivers and young adult males. Every year the cost of crashes exceeds $230 billion dollars. In 2005 in the U.S., 16,885 people died in alcohol-related crashes. That’s one every 31 minutes or an average of 46 per day.
Lack of sleep is one of the leading causes of traffic fatalities. Fatigue has many of the same dangerous effects as drinking alcohol. For example, being awake for 18 hours straight has the same effect as a .07 BAC.