Drunk driving is a severe problem here in Louisiana. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) statistics from 2012 show that 2.5% of Louisianans admitted to getting behind the wheel after drinking excessively. Only 1.9% of Americans overall said that they did the same. There are specific trends related to who’s most apt to drive while intoxicated and suffer injuries or die in such crashes.

Statistics compiled by the CDC show that 3,046 individuals died in alcohol-involved crashes here in Louisiana between 2003 and 2012. Those same statistics show that 5.2 per 100,000 Louisiana residents passed away in alcohol-involved crashes in 2012 compared to 3.3 per 100,000 in the nation as a whole. An estimated 2.4 per 100,000 females and 8.3 per 100,000 males lost their lives in alcohol-involved Louisiana crashes in 2012.

The largest number of decedents in these drunk driving accidents were individuals ages 21 to 34. At least 8.6 per 100,000 Louisiana residents from this age group died in alcohol-involved collisions in 2012. This index compares to a 6.7 per 100,000 national rates for the country as a whole.

Individuals ages 35 or older had the second-highest fatality rate of all age groups in Louisiana. At least 5.1 per 100,000 Louisiana residents from this demographic died in these crashes in 2012. Only 3.1 per 100,000 individuals died in similar types of incidents in the U.S. that same year.

At least 2.8 per 100,000 of the Louisiana victims in these crashes were individuals between zero and 20. The national average of decedents from this age range was 1.3 per 100,000 in 2012.

State officials deem anyone who gets behind the wheel of a car with a blood alcohol content (BAC) of .08% or higher as an intoxicated motorist. Lawmakers set this limit after recognizing that such an impairment significantly impacts a motorist’s ability to operate their vehicle effectively.

Alcohol-involved crashes often leave behind catastrophic results both for the intoxicated motorist and their victims. Serious accidents deserve a serious legal response. One of the first things that you’ll want to do as you recover from your crash or grieve the loss of your loved one is to consult with an attorney. Your Baton Rouge lawyer will take the necessary steps to hold the motorist who forever changed your life accountable for their actions.