Last week’s article discussed Utah’s introduction of legislation, which, if passed, would lower the legal BAC limit for DWI from 0.08 to 0.05 in that state. This article explores a bit further into impaired driving and the profile of an impaired driver from the results of a study on impaired driving crashes on New York roadways during the five-year period 2011 to 2015.

The study was performed by the Institute for Traffic Safety Management and Research and funded by the New York State Governor’s Traffic Safety Committee. The study focused on two key objectives. The first objective was to determine the extent to which alcohol and/or drugs play a role in fatal and personal-injury motor-vehicle traffic crashes on New York roadways. The second objective was to identify the characteristics of the drivers who had alcohol and/or drugs in their system at the time of the crash.

Some of the key results of the study are interesting. For instance, the number of impaired driving fatal crashes has remained fairly constant (427 to 438) over the five-year period, representing 40 percent to 41 percent of all fatal crashes. In each of the five years, three-quarters of the drivers who had alcohol and/or drugs in their system were men and one-quarter were women. With respect to age, the largest proportion of these drivers each year were ages 21 to 29, followed by drivers ages 30 to 39. In 2015, 33 percent of the drivers were ages 21 to 29, and 24 percent were ages 30 to 39.

An impaired driver doesn’t cause a crash just because he/she is impaired; there are other factors involved, mainly as a result of the inability to drive prudently resulting from the alcohol or drugs. For instance, of the crashes caused by impaired drivers, 28 percent were also charged with unsafe passing, improper lane usage or unsafe lane changing, 18 percent with a speed-related infraction and 12 percent with failure to keep right.

In examining other factors, including those where no tickets were written, the analyses showed that “unsafe speed” was a factor associated with one-quarter (24 percent) of these drivers, followed by “passing / improper lane usage / unsafe lane changing” (12 percent). “driver inattention / distraction” was a factor associated with 7 percent of the drivers.

Maybe the most important result found from the study is that we are no longer reducing impaired driving fatal crashes in New York state. The study showed no change over the five-year study period, with fatalities remaining at between 400 and 450 annually. Another disturbing factor is that too high a percentage of our younger drivers are driving impaired. Somehow, we need to do better. Maybe Utah’s lead will be the key.

Thanks to the New York State Sheriffs’ Association, the Governor’s Traffic Safety Committee and Franklin County Sheriff Kevin Mulverhill for providing information for this article.

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For more information on traffic law and safety, go to the traffic safety board’s website at “http://www.franklincony.org”>www.franklincony.org and click on “Traffic Safety Board” under departments; then look for “Did You Know” articles under “services.” You may also email me at dwerner151@verizon.net.