The nature of and the reasons for the decline in drinking and driving in the United States : an update.

Alcohol related fatalities have fallen from 25,170 or 57 percent of all highway fatalities in 1982 to 16,884 or 42 percent of all fatalities in 1994. This decrease occurred in the face of a 17 percent increase in the number of registered vehicles and a 14 percent increase in the number of drivers in the U.S. It is clear that this dramatic decrease was caused by a complex set of factors including economic conditions, reduced alcohol consumption, and changed public attitudes toward drinking, as well as drinking and driving. This paper discusses the extent to which recent safety program initiatives may have contributed to this decline in alcohol related highway deaths. (A)