Administrative Suspension
Consumer Publications
DWI Policies
Fatality Facts : Alcohol
Highway Loss Data Institute
Red Light Running
Safety Facts
Teen Drivers

Insurance Institute for Highway Safety is an independent, nonprofit, research and communications organization dedicated to reducing highway crash deaths, injuries, and property damage losses. IIHS is whole supported by automobile insurers. Contains information on: Crash Tests and Vehicle Evaluations, News and Film, Airbags, Fatality Facts, State Law Facts, Driver and Passenger Information, Traffic Laws and Enforcement, Alcohol and Drugs, Speed, Motorcycles, Restraints and more. Human factors research addresses problems associated with teenage drivers, alcohol-impaired driving, truck driver fatigue, and safety belt use. Vehicle factors research focuses on both crash avoidance and crash worthiness. Crash tests are central to crash worthiness research, and the Institute has been conducing such tests for decades to illustrate the importance of safety belts and air bags. This work expanded with the opening of the the Institute's Vehicle Research Center and is an ongoing program of frontal crash tests. Research aimed at the physical environment includes assessment of roadways designs to reduce run-off-the road crashes and eliminate roadside hazards.
http://www.iihs.org/

REFLECTING ON THE ALCOHOL-IMPAIRED DRIVING PROBLEM WORLDWIDE AND WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT : Status Report, April, 2005
http://www.iihs.org/sr/default.aspx?2005

ALCOHOL DETERRENCE AND ENFORCEMENT
State laws making it illegal to drive with high blood alcohol concentrations (BACs) serve as the cornerstone of all efforts to reduce alcohol-impaired driving. Many people think the principal goal of such laws is to arrest and punish the drivers who put everyone else at risk. But arrest and punishment of offenders is a secondary objective. The most important objective is for the law to be a deterrent so that police find no alcohol-impaired drivers to arrest.
http://www.iihs.org/research/qanda/alcohol_enforce.html

ALCOHOL: ADMINISTRATIVE LICENSE SUSPENSION
Hundreds of state laws targeting alcohol-impaired driving were enacted in the 1980's, and among those show to be the most effective are administrative license suspension (ALS) laws. Forty states and the District of Columbia have ALS laws.
http://www.iihs.org/research/qanda/alcohol_als.html

CONSUMER PUBLICATIONS
Information on air bags, vehicle purchases and much more.
http://www.iihs.org/brochures/default.html

DWI POLICIES REDUCE CRASHES
New research indicates that lowering to 0.08 percent the blood alcohol concentration (BAC) at which it it's legal per se to drive resulted in a small but statistically significant 5 percent reduction in single-vehicle nighttime fatal crashes. Such crashes often are associated with alcohol-impaired driving. Researchers at the University of Minnesota and University of New South Wales compared monthly crash counts for three years before and after BAC thresholds were lowered in 16 U. S. states and the District of Columbia. The study found an even greater effect of enacting administrative license revocation laws, which reduced single-vehicle nighttime crashes by almost 11 percent. (Bernat, D. H., et al., ACCIDENT ANALYSIS AND PREVENTION (2004), 36: 1089-97.) published in Status Report, Vol. 40, N0. 7, August 6. 2005, page 7.
http://www.iihs.org/sr/default.aspx?2005

FATALITY FACTS: ALCOHOL
Progress has been made in the past 20 years to reduce the proportion of fatally injured drivers with BACs at or above 0.08 percent. Proportions are lower in all age groups. They're lower among drivers of passenger vehicles, tractor-trailers, and motorcycles. There also has been a substantial decline among those with very high BACs (³0.15 percent), who often are assumed to be "hard-core" drinking drivers. However, progress has stalled in recent years and alcohol-impaired driving is still a major problem.

All states now have enacted a law defining impairment as driving with a BAC at or above 0.08 percent. All states also have "zero tolerance" laws that prohibit people younger than 21 from driving after drinking. Typically, these laws prohibit driving with a BAC of 0.02 percent or greater. A BAC as low as 0.02 percent has been shown to affect driving ability. The probability of a crash rises significantly after 0.05 percent BAC and even more rapidly after about 0.08 percent. Among drivers age 35 and older with BACs at or above 0.15 percent on weekend nights, the likelihood of dying in a single-vehicle crash is 382 times higher than it is for non drinking drivers.

The information in this fact sheet is based on data from all 50 states with imputations for missing BACs provided by the U. S. Department of Transportation's multiple imputation model.2 The following facts are based on analysis of data from the U. S. Department of Transportation's Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS).
http://www.iihs.org/research/topics/alcohol_drugs.html

Fatality Facts: Alcohol 2005. 2006, 2007, 2008
* Alcohol involvement in fatal crashes peaks at night. Between 9pm and 6am, 58 percent of fatally injured passenger vehicle drivers in 2005 had BACs at or above 0.08 percent, compared with 19 percent during other hours.
* Forty-five percent of passenger vehicle drivers fatally injured on weekends (6pm Friday to 6am Monday) in 2005 had BACs at or above 0.08 percent, compared with 24 percent at other times.
* Alcohol involvement is highest in nighttime (9pm to 6am) single-vehicle crashes, in which 66 percent of fatally injured passenger vehicle drivers in 2005 had BACs at or above 0.08 percent. Only 28 percent of the fatally injured passenger vehicle drivers involved in nighttime single-vehicle crashes had no alcohol in their blood. Changes in nighttime single-vehicle crashes often are used to measure the changing role of alcohol in highway crashes and crash deaths.
* Among fatally injured passenger vehicle drivers in 2005, a higher proportion of males than females had BACs at or above 0.08 percent at every age. Overall 38 percent of males and 19 percent of females had BACs at or above 0.08 percent. The percentage was highest among males ages 21-40.
http://www.iihs.org/research/topics/alcohol_drugs.html

HIGHWAY LOSS DATA INSTITUTE
The Highway Loss Data Institute is a nonprofit, public service organization that gathers, processes, and publishes information on the ways insurance losses vary among different kinds of motor vehicles, safety,manufacturing problems, and passenger safety. It is closely associated and funded through the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, which is wholly supported by automobile users.
http://www.carsafety.org/

McCartt, Anne T., Williams, Allan F., "Characteristics of fatally injured drivers with high blood alcohol concentrations (BACs)" Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, 2004. Blood alcohol concentrations (BACs) of fatally injured passenger vehicle drivers in the United States were used to examine the current and historical distributions of BACs and the characteristics of fatally injured drivers by BAC categories, including those with very high BACs. All categories of illegal BACs (0.08 percent or higher) declined substantially from 1982 to 2002, and declines were similar across BAC categories. Among illegally impaired drivers, the prevalence of several driver and crash characteristics increased systematically, but gradually, with increasing BACs. This study does not support the claim that "hard core drinking drivers" have become a larger part of the problem and have been unaffected by general deterrent approaches.

RED LIGHT CAMERAS AND RUNNING
Drivers who run red lights are responsible for an estimated 260,000 crashes each year, of which approximately 750 are fatal. On a national basis, fatal motor vehicle crashes at traffic signals increased 24 percent between 1992 and 1997, far outpacing the 6 percent rise in all other fatal crashes. Red light running is a big part of the problem. Institute researchers determined that during this time period there were 3,753 red light running crashes from 702 in 1992 to 809 in 1996 a 15 percent increase.

Running red lights and other traffic controls like stop and yield signs is the most frequent type of urban crash, Institute research shows. Researchers studied police reports of crashes on public roads in four urban areas during 1990 and 1991. Of 13 crash types researchers identified, running traffic controls accounted for 22 percent of all crashes. Among crashes involving running traffic control, 24 percent involved running red lights. The same study shows that motorists are more likely to be injured in crashes involving red light running than in other types of crashes. Occupant injuries, occurred in 45 percent of the red light running crashes studied.

"Who cares if you're not speeding?" Vol. 34, No. 6, June 19, 1999

"Evidence is mounting: photo radar helps to lower speeds and reduce injury crashes", Vol. 33, No. 10.

"Red light running crashes increase", Vol. 33, No. 7, July 11, 1998.
http://www.iihs.org/sr/default.html

SAFETY FACTS
Address: http://www.iihs.org/research/

STATUS REPORTS
"Federal proposal would unlink fuel economy requirement from their safety consequences", STATUS REPORT, (2006), 41 (2), Feb. 25. 2006.
http://www.iihs.org/sr/default.html

"Drinking and related problems decline when alcohol costs more", STATUS REPORT , 45 (6), June 19, 2010. (Review of 72 studies world wide.)The Task Force on Community Preventive Services, made up of US public health and prevention experts appointed by the Centers for Disease Control, conducted the review of papers published before July 2005 with support from the Centers for Disease Control and the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services. The task force recommends the best practices for public health interventions.

Nearly all of the 72 students found an inverse relationship between tax or price of alcohol and indices of excessive drinking or alcohol-related problems, including crashes. Results were consistent among alcohol types--wine, beer, and liquor--and across countries, time periods, and study designs. Studies that looked at underage drinkers also found convincing evidence that increasing the cost of alcohol reduces consumption and problem drinking. More research is needed to determine the benefits of increasing taxes on all alcohol at once compared with selectively raising taxes on specific beverages, the task force states.

Prior studies by the group found strong evidence that ignition interlocks, sobriety checkpoints, and the legal drinking age of 21 are effective interventions to combat alcohol-impaired driving.

"The effectiveness of tax policy interventions for reducing recessive alcohol consumption and related harms: by R. E. Elder et al., appears in the February 2010 issue of the AMERICAN JOURNAL OF
PREVENTIVE MEDICINE.
http://www.iihs.org/sr/default.html

TEEN DRIVERS
Q&A: TEENAGERS - GENERAL
as of July 2005
In every country in the world where cars are a common means of transportation, teenagers are disproportionately involved in crashes. The seriousness of this problem has been recognized for decades, but most public policies have had little impact. Newer approaches such as graduated licensing are being enacted to try to reduce teenage crashes and the deaths and injuries they cause.

1. How serious is the teenage motor vehicle crash problem?
2. How do teenage crash rates compare with rates among drivers of other ages?
3. How do teenage crash rates compare with rates among elderly drivers?
4. How do crashes involving teenagers differ from those of other drivers?
5. Why is teenage crash involvement so high?
6. What requirements do states have for teenagers learning to drive?
7. Is alcohol an important factor in teenagers' crashes?
8. What works when it comes to teenagers driving while impaired by alcohol?
9. What can be done to reduce teenagers' high crash rates?
10. Do driver education programs make teens safer?
http://www.iihs.org/research/topics/teenagers.html

updated 09/06/10