(Prevalence and Trends in Alcohol Use by Drivers in the US) "The comparison of the BAC [Blood Alcohol Content] test results from the four NRS [National Roadside Survey] studies suggests that, during the most recent decade, there continues to be a downward trend in the proportion of drivers with positive BACs²¹ on U.S. roads on weekend nights, from 36.1 percent in 1973, 25.9 percent in 1986, 16.9 percent in 1996, to a low of 12.4 percent in 2007.

(Prevalence of Alcohol Use by Drivers in the US, by Gender) "The percentage of male drivers with a BAC over the current legal limit of 0.08 g/dL was 42% higher than the percentage of female drivers with illegal BACs (Figure 2). A regression analysis showed that males were significantly more likely to have illegal BACs (p < .01). Over 2% of the weekend nighttime drivers had illegal BACs (>0.08g/dL) while only 0.1% of daytime drivers had illegal BACs."

(Prevalence of Alcohol Use Among Drivers in US) "The 2007 NRS found a dramatic decline in the number of drinking drivers with BACs [Blood Alcohol Content] at or above the current legal limit of 0.08 g/dL* on weekend nights compared to previous surveys (Figure 1). In 1973, 7.5% of drivers NHTSA’s National Center for Statistics and Analysis had BACs at or above 0.08 g/dL. In 2007, there were only 2.2% of drivers with a BAC at or above the current legal limit. This represents a decline of 71% in the percentage of alcohol-impaired drivers on the road on weekend nights.

(Per Capita Alcohol Consumption in the EU) "The European Union (EU) is the region with the highest alcohol consumption in the world: in 2009, average adult (aged 15+ years) alcohol consumption in the EU was 12.5 litres of pure alcohol – 27g of pure alcohol or nearly three drinks a day, more than double the world average. Although there are many individual country differences, alcohol consumption in the EU as a whole has continued at a stable level over the past decade."

(Admissions to Treatment for Alcohol with Secondary Drug Use in the US, 2012)
"• Admissions for primary abuse of alcohol with secondary abuse of drugs represented 18 percent of TEDS admissions aged 12 and older in 2012 [Table 1.1b].
"• The average age at admission for primary alcohol with secondary drug abuse was lower, at 37 years, than for abuse of alcohol alone (41 years) [Table 2.1a].

(Alcohol Use Among Youth By Socioeconomic Status As Measured By Parental Education Achievement) "Thirty-day prevalence of alcohol use is also negatively associated with SES [Socio-Economic Status] in 8th grade, but that association declines in upper grades and showing little difference by 12th grade. The prevalence of getting drunk in the prior 30 days is also negatively associated with SES in 8th grade, but becomes positively correlated with SES by 12th grade."

(Alcohol Use Among US 12th Graders By College Plans) "Frequent alcohol use is also considerably more prevalent among the non-college-bound. For example, daily drinking is reported by 4.8% of the non-college-bound 12th graders versus 1.5% of the college-bound. Binge drinking (five or more drinks in a row at least once during the preceding two weeks) has less of a relative difference: It is reported by 29% of the non-college-bound 12th graders versus 21% of the college-bound.

(Lifetime Prevalence of Alcohol Use by Students) "Nationwide, 70.8% of students had had at least one drink of alcohol on at least 1 day during their life (i.e., ever drank alcohol) (Table 41). The prevalence of having ever drunk alcohol was higher among black female (66.1%) than black male (60.9%) students.

(Driving Fatalities) "Alcohol-impaired driving fatalities declined 20% from 13,491 to 10,839 from 2006 to 2009, the most recent year for which fatality data are available (7). However, the proportion of all motor vehicle fatalities that involve at least one alcohol-impaired driver has remained stable at about 33%, because non-alcohol-impaired driving fatalities have declined at the same rate as alcohol-impaired fatalities (7).

(History of Drunk Driving) "The first discussion of a relationship between alcohol consumption and motor vehicle collisions to be published in an American scientific journal appeared as an editorial in the Quarterly Journal of Inebriation (1904). The editor had received a communication about 25 fatal crashes of automobile wagons in which 23 occupants died and 14 suffered injuries. Nineteen of the drivers had used alcohol within an hour of the crash.