DWI Trends in Minnesota
Traffic Fatalities in Minnesota: Total vs. Alcohol-Related
| |
1986 |
1987 |
1988 |
1989 |
1990 |
1991 |
1992 |
1993 |
1994 |
1995 |
1996 |
1997 |
1998 |
1999 |
2000 |
2001 |
| Total Traffic Fatalities |
572 |
530 |
615 |
605 |
568 |
531 |
581 |
538 |
644 |
597 |
576 |
600 |
650 |
626 |
625 |
568 |
| Alcohol-Related Traffic Fatalities* |
278 |
240 |
289 |
291 |
254 |
231 |
237 |
212 |
244 |
265 |
218 |
193 |
280 |
201 |
255 |
211 |
| Percent of total |
48.6% |
45.3% |
47.0% |
48.1% |
44.7% |
43.5% |
40.8% |
39.4% |
37.9% |
44.4% |
37.8% |
32.2% |
43.1% |
32.1% |
40.8% |
37.1% |
| Impaired Driving Incidents** |
n/a |
n/a |
n/a |
n/a |
36,884 |
32,466 |
30,834 |
30,111 |
29,739 |
30,255 |
30,515 |
30,905 |
32,001 |
34,529 |
34,803 |
33,305 |
| Impaired Driving Incidents/ Alcohol-Related Fatality |
n/a |
n/a |
n/a |
n/a |
145.21 |
140.55 |
130.10 |
142.03 |
121.88 |
114.17 |
139.98 |
160.13 |
114.29 |
171.79 |
136.48 |
157.84 |
Data source: Motor Vehicle Crash Facts, Minnesota
Department of Public Safety, Office of Traffic Safety (annually), Table 2.03
* Estimated using a statistical procedure developed by the
National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA). This estimate
adjusts the actual fatality count upward slightly to account for the absence of
alcohol testing in a fraction of fatal crashes. The NHTSA estimate used to
adjust the number of alcohol-related traffic fatalities typically becomes
available several months after the publication of Crash Facts. Thus, the
final year's fatality number is the actual (lower) count, rather than the
adjusted (and slightly higher) number.
** Both the implied consent driver's license revocation and the court conviction
for DWI are recorded on the offender's driver's license record. However,
sometimes one action or the other does not happen. For example, the implied
consent warning often cannot be administered following a crash in which the
driver is injured; thus, there could be no administrative license revocation in
such cases. Similarly, when through a plea negotiation the criminal DWI charge
is reduced to a charge of careless driving, there would be no DWI conviction for
the incident on the driving record. Accordingly, the presence of the driver's
license record of either the IC revocation or DWI conviction signals that the
driver had been involved in an impaired driving incident. An arrest that results
in neither the IC revocation nor a DWI-type conviction would escape our count in
this analysis.
Return to
Criminal Justice
Return to House Research
home
