Drunk Driving Fatalities Down But Remain Leading Culprit
Drunk driving fatalities fell 1.1% in 2017 compared with 2016, and alcohol impairment remains the leading cause of highway deaths, according to the most recent data released by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Drunk driving fatalities fell 1.1% in 2017 but the issue remains a top concern for highway safety advocates.
Photo via Zachary Hada/U.S. Air Force.
Drunk driving fatalities fell 1.1% in 2017 compared with 2016, and alcohol impairment remains the leading cause of highway deaths, according to the most recent data released by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Of the 37,133 people who died in traffic crashes in 2017, 29% of those killed, or 10,874, were due to drunk driving. While this 29% of overall fatalities is the lowest percentage since 1982, when NHTSA started reporting alcohol data, it still shows that drunk driving remains the top cause of fatal crashes nationwide.
The NHTSA data drills down to the state level as well. Twenty-six states and Puerto Rico saw declines in the number of alcohol-impaired-driving fatalities. Florida had the largest decrease, with 66 fewer lives lost in alcohol-impaired-driving crashes in 2017.
Conversely, 21 states and the District of Columbia saw increases in the number of alcohol-impaired-driving fatalities, with the largest increase of 67 fatalities in Michigan, followed by 44 more in Maryland.
New Mexico, New York, and Utah saw no change in the number of alcohol-impaired-driving fatalities from 2016 to 2017.
Nationwide, drunk driving deaths and overall traffic fatalities had increased over the previous year in both 2015 and 2016. However, the slight drop in 2017 is not enough, according to Mothers Against Drink Driving.
"One death is too many, but almost 11,000 lives lost, two years in a row, is devastating. It's unacceptable," said Colleen Sheehey-Church, president of MADD. "We must double-down on preventing this violent crime with strong laws, diligent law enforcement and making sure we are taking personal responsibility in our own lives to always plan ahead for a non-drinking driver when plans include alcohol."
More Safety
How Better Visibility Cut Speeding Violations by 48%
Fleet leaders don't need more data, they need clearer visibility into what the data is saying. This case study explores how one utility replaced speeding-event counts with a single metric — miles driven in violation — to strengthen safety and significantly reduce speeding violations.
Read More →
Operation Safe Driver Week: Why the Industry's Oldest Safety Campaign Still Matters to Fleets
A look at how a 2007 enforcement initiative became one of the most consequential weeks on the fleet safety calendar, and what it means for your drivers in 2026.
Read More →
Nexar-Nauto Merger Aims to Give Fleets Better Safety Intelligence Through Larger Driving Dataset
Stefan Heck tells Automotive Fleet that combining more than 10 billion miles of driving history with Nexar's AI models will give fleets deeper insights into driver risk and roadway conditions than either company could provide independently.
Read More →From Silos to Solutions: Relationship Management for Safer Fleets
From telematics adoption and driver accountability to policy consistency and risk mitigation, this episode breaks down what it really takes to build a safer fleet culture without slowing business down.
Read More →
IIHS Launches First Commercial Vehicle Safety Evaluations
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has begun evaluating heavy-duty pickups and cargo vans for driver protection. Which models earned top marks?
Read More →
Reducing Risk by Eliminating Phone Use Behind the Wheel
Hosted with the cofounder of Lifesaver Mobile, this episode addresses phone use behind the wheel and how to design a driving environment that actually helps prevents accidents.
Read More →
Cameras, Safety and Insurance: From Reactive Claims to Real-Time Prevention (Part 2 of 2)
Part Two: Commercial auto remains one of the most challenging and costly lines of coverage for fleet operators and insurers alike. Continue learning more about how to effectively address these issues from Onur Aksan, Enterprise Business Development Executive, Geotab
Read More →
How 5-Second Telematics Data Is Changing Fleet Safety
This episode connects with Steve Santostasi of Ford Pro and covers how a few seconds of data can make a difference in fleet safety.
Read More →
Managing Road Risk at Scale: Why Fleet Safety Needs a Data-Driven Framework
Insights from the FIA Road and Driver Safety Indexes reveal how to manage road risk on a larger scale.
Read More →
Stellantis Recalls 1.3 Million Jeep Vehicles Worldwide Over Fire Risk
Stellantis is recalling more than 1.3 million Jeep Wrangler and Gladiator models worldwide over a fire risk linked to power steering pump wiring.
Read More →
