Drunken drivers place Illinois on 15-most-deadly list

December 7, 2004

BY JIM RITTER Health Reporter

Illinois is one of the 15 deadliest states in drunken-driving fatalities, according to a new, doctor-led traffic-safety group.

Last year, 44 percent of the state's traffic deaths were alcohol-related, a rate just high enough to place Illinois on the "Fatal Fifteen" list compiled by the national physicians' group End Needless Death on Our Roadways or END.

The worst state was Rhode Island, where 55 percent of traffic deaths were alcohol-related. Utah, at 15 percent, was the best state. The national average was 40.

The list, based on data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, will be released today at American Hospital Association offices in Chicago.

Tougher enforcement of drunken-driving laws has cut the annual number of alcohol-related traffic deaths by more than 25 percent since fatalities peaked during the early 1980s. However, progress has slowed in recent years.

Last year, 17,013 people died in alcohol-related traffic deaths in the United States. That's more than five times the number killed in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

In Illinois, there were 639 alcohol-related traffic deaths last year, a 2.1 percent drop from 2002.

Indiana boasts low percentage

Illinois, along with every other state, has lowered the drunken-driving threshold to a blood alcohol content of .08. The state also has enacted a seat belt law. All front seat passengers, and all passengers under age 18 regardless of where they sit, must buckle up or the driver is subject to a $55 fine.

END is calling on the Fatal Fifteen states to appoint task forces to recommend ways to reduce drunken driving. Indiana, where only 31 percent of traffic deaths are alcohol-related, has had such a task force since 1983, and the group has been a driving force in pushing laws and programs, said Donald McNamara, regional administrator of the traffic safety administration.

Last month, Illinois launched the Governor's Alcohol Abuse Task Force to combat excessive drinking. The group will include top administrators from the State Police and Human Services and Transportation departments.

"I'm hoping this task force will make impaired driving a critical component," McNamara said.

Getting hospitals to help

END also is pushing hospital emergency rooms to screen patients for alcohol abuse, as required by new guidelines from the American College of Surgeons.

Roughly half of all trauma injuries are alcohol-related.

In addition to causing accidents, drunks get into fights, start fires, fall down steps, etc. Since it typically takes a crisis before drinkers admit their problem, they tend to be receptive to counseling while in the hospital, experts say.