08.11.09
Interesting Statistics from NHTSA
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) recently published new statistics suggesting the percentage of drivers on the road with a blood alcohol concentration over .08 has been reduced from 7.5% in 1973 to 2.2% in 2007. While we are generally skeptical of any analysis presented by NHTSA, given their long history of skewing data, it is at least interesting to see the downward movement of the data.
More interesting in that same report was the assertion that 16.3% of nightime drivers are on drugs. This data includes 8.6% of drivers testing positive for marijuana, 3.9% for cocaine, and 3.9% for prescription drugs. Again, while we are skeptical of any NHTSA data, even if this is half true the numbers are shockingly high. The lesson to be learned is to be extraordinarily careful driving at night. You simply do not know the condition of the other drivers out there.
k&b,llc
