Utah holds down DUI death rate

Deseret News (Salt Lake City), Dec 18, 2003 by Lucinda Dillon Kinkead Deseret Morning News

Utah continues to buck a national trend where drinking and driving is concerned, as data released today shows alcohol-related traffic death rates increased or held steady in 19 states in the past four years.

Efforts to curb drunken driving are stagnating in many parts of the country, according to a report to be issued today by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

"We seem to be stalled or stuck at relatively the same fatality rate," said Dennis Utter, the chief mathematician for NHTSA's National Center for Statistics and Analysis.

But Vermont, Utah, Maine, New York and Indiana had the lowest overall death rates. The states with the highest numbers of alcohol- related deaths per miles traveled were Montana, South Carolina, South Dakota, Nevada and Louisiana.

"I am pleased with the data regarding Utah," Gov. Olene Walker said Wednesday. "Our task force and law enforcement officials have worked very hard, however, we need to keep working on the issue especially during the holiday season."

During the period from 1998-2002, Utah's alcohol-related fatality rate dropped 3 percent, according to the data. In the Beehive State, slightly more than one-fourth of fatal accidents involve alcohol.

"We are pleased that Utah has one of the lowest rates in the nation," said Susan Burke, director of the Utah Substance Abuse and Anti-Violence Coordinating Council, which supervises DUI concerns in Utah.

She credits collective efforts of law enforcement, judiciary and advocates but adds, "Our work is not over."

A few days before the data were released a 14-year-old Orem boy died in what police suspect was an alcohol-related crash near Spanish Fork.

The car in which Heriberto Sanchez was riding ran off I-15 and the boy was thrown from the vehicle as it rolled. The 17-year-old driver and two other teenage passengers were injured and alcohol may have been a contributing factor in the crash, said Tammy Palmer of the Utah Highway Patrol. Earlier this month, the NHTSA expressed frustration about the lack of improvement in DUI deaths throughout the nation and unveiled a six-pronged strategy to reduce impaired driving.

"We already know what works to stop impaired driving," NHTSA Administrator Jeffrey W. Runge said last week. "These strategies will save lives today, if we work together to implement them in every community."

Police must be more visible, DUI prosecution and adjudication must be enhanced and high-risk populations should be better screened for alcohol use problems, according to the plan. In addition, specialized courts like those used in Utah, and strong alcoholic beverage control policies for minors also are critical to solving the problem.

Officials hope those strategies will help in South Carolina, which saw the greatest increase in its death rate during the four-year period, followed by Kansas, South Dakota, Rhode Island and Wisconsin.

Barbara Harsha, executive director of the Washington-based Governors Highway Safety Association, said a growing number of alcohol-related motorcycle accidents in the past five years might be responsible for the increases.

Motorists are driving faster than they used to, so they're more likely to be in fatal crashes that may be fueled by alcohol.

Drunken driving deaths declined markedly during the 1980s and early '90s as organizations such as Mothers Against Drunk Driving were formed and drew attention to the problem. -->NHTSA's report showed 26,173 alcohol-related traffic deaths in 1982, or 60 percent of all traffic deaths, falling to 16,572, or 40 percent, in 1999. For 2002, the figures were 17,419 alcohol-related deaths, or 41 percent of all traffic fatalities.

Vermont was the only state that showed consistent annual declines in its alcohol-related traffic deaths, NHTSA said. The state had an overall decline of 54.1 percent between 1998 and 2002.

NHTSA numbers for Utah are probably conservative because officers don't test all victims of fatal accidents for alcohol in their blood. In cases where the dead weren't tested for blood-alcohol levels, NHTSA uses estimates and statistical procedures to determine the likelihood that alcohol was involved.

But Utah has taken radical steps to improve DUI practices in recent years.

On Friday, Utah Highway Safety officials kick off a formidable holiday DUI enforcement campaign titled "You Drink & Drive You Lose," to include beefed-up police enforcement and other special alcohol- prevention programs during the holidays.

"We still arrest 15,000 drunk drivers each year and kill or injure 1,700 at a cost of human misery that lasts for years," said Art Brown, president of the Utah chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving. "If you have been in that number or might be in any future DUI fatal or injury statistics, the national trends are of no comfort."

It is predicted that one in three Utah residents will be negatively effected by a DUI crash in their lifetime, Brown said. "All of these rates are too high and unacceptable."