September 2004 A Brief Statistical Summary Published by the Mathematical Analysis Division DOT HS 809 780

Alcohol-Related Fatalities by State, 2003

Traffic Safety Facts

Crash•Stats

National Center for Statistics and Analysis 400 Seventh St., S.W., Washington, D.C. 20590 

Introduction

An alcohol-related crash is a crash that 

involved at least one driver, pedestrian 

or pedal-cyclist with a Blood Alcohol 

Concentration (BAC) of 0.01 g/dl or 

above (non-sober). A fatality that 

occurs in such a crash is defined as an 

alcohol-related fatality. 

This fact sheet provides statistics on 

alcohol-related fatalities in the states 

in 2003 and also compares those 

numbers with the corresponding data 

for 20021. Of particular interest are 

the changes in the number of alcohol 

related fatalities in states that were the 

Strategic Evaluation (SE) States. 

In 2003, based on NHTSA’s success 

with its priority safety belts campaign, 

Click It or Ticket (CIOT), the agency 

initiated a comparable impaired 

driving campaign, the You Drink 

and Drive You Lose (YD&DYL) 

law enforcement crackdown. Like 

CIOT, YD&DL uses high visibility 

law enforcement, along with paid 

advertising and earned media during 

a nationally coordinated crackdown. 

Special emphasis was placed in the 

13 SE States, by offering additional 

resources for paid media, evaluation 

and technical assistance.

Results

Overall, 42,643 persons died in motor 

vehicle traffic crashes in the U.S. in 

2003, a drop of 362 fatalities from 2002. 

Alcohol-related fatalities dropped to 

17,013 in 2003 – the first decrease since 

1999. The 511 fewer alcohol-related 

fatalities reflected a 3 percent reduction 

from the 17,524 fatalities in 2002. Table 

1 (overleaf) depicts these changes and 

also illustrates the changes that took 

place in the SE states. As seen from 

Table 1, although the SES and the rest 

of the nation had similar decreases in 

the overall number of fatalities in 2003, 

the SES showed a greater magnitude 

of decline in alcohol-related fatalities. 

In fact, four of the 13 SES showed 

an increase in the total number of 

fatalities while twelve of the states 

showed a decrease in alcohol-related 

fatalities from 2002.

In the SE States, there were 380 fewer 

alcohol-related fatalities in 2003 as 

compared to 2002. In the non-SE States, 

there were 131 fewer alcohol-related 

fatalities in 2003. NHTSA estimates 

BAC values when they are not reported 

to FARS. The numbers depicted in 

Table 1 are a combination of known 

BAC values reported to FARS as well 

as estimated BAC values for those 

cases without a reported BAC value. 

The difference in the estimates of 

alcohol involvement between 2002 and 

2003 are significant if they are outside 

the margin of the error of estimation. 

Alcohol-related fatalities in the SE 

States declined significantly in 2003 

as compared to 2002. However, the 

decrease of 131 alcohol-related fatalities 

in the other (non-SE) states was within 

the margin of error and hence was 

not a significant decline. The overall 

decline of 511 alcohol-related fatalities 

for the nation was outside the margin 

of error and hence a significant decline.

For additional copies of this Crash•Stats, please call 1-800-934-8517 or 

fax your request to (202) 366-3189. For questions regarding the data 

reported in this document, contact Rajesh Subramanian [202-366-5371]. 

This document and other general information on highway safety may be 

accessed by internet users at http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/departments/

nrd-30/ncsa/AvailInf.html
National Center for Statistics and Analysis 400 Seventh St., S.W., Washington, D.C. 20590 

Comparison of Total and Alcohol-Related Fatalities between 2002 and 2003, Strategic Evaluation (SE) States versus Other States

Year 2002 2003 Change (Percent Change)

 State Total Alcohol- % of Total Alcohol- % of Total Alcohol-

 Related Total Related Total Related

U.S. 43,005 17,524 41% 42,643 17,013 40% -362 (-0.8%) -511 (-2.9%)

 SE States 19.773 8,267 42% 19,591 7,887 40% -182 (-0.9%) -380 (-4.6%)

Alaska 89 37 41% 95 35 37% +6 (+ 6.7%) -2 (-5.4%)

 Arizona 1,132 489 43% 1,120 470 42% -12 (-1.1%) -19 (-3.9%)

 California 4,088 1,628 40% 4,215 1,626 39% +127 (+3.1%) -2 (-0.1%)

Florida 3,136 1,279 41% 3,169 1,274 40% +33 (+1.1%) -5 (-0.4%)

 Georgia 1,524 533 35% 1,603 488 30% +79 (+5.2%) -45 (-8.4%)

 Louisiana 907 427 47% 894 406 45% -13 (-1.4%) -21 (-4.9%)

 Mississippi 885 335 38% 871 320 37% -14 (-1.6%) -15 (-4.5%)

 Montana 269 126 47% 262 128 49% -7 (-2.6%) +2 (+1.6%)

 New Mexico 449 219 49% 439 198 45% -10 (-2.2%) -21 (-9.6%)

Ohio 1,418 558 39% 1,277 467 37% -141 (-10%) -91 (-16%)

 Pennsylvania 1,614 649 40% 1,577 618 39% -37 (-2.3%) -31 (-4.8%)

Texas 3,823 1,810 47% 3,675 1,709 47% -148 (-3.9%) -101 (-5.6%)

 West Virginia 439 179 41% 394 148 37% -45 (-10%) -31 (-17%)

 Other States 23,232 9,257 40% 23,052 9,126 40% -180 (-0.8%) -131 (-1.4%)

 Alabama 1,038 410 39% 1,001 415 41% -37 (-3.6%) +5 (+1.2%)

 Arkansas 640 241 38% 627 254 41% -13 (-2.0%) +13 (+5.4%)

 Colorado 743 314 42% 632 246 39% -111 (-15%) -68 (-22%)

 Connecticut 325 144 44% 294 131 45% -31 (-9.5%) -13 (-9.0%)

 Delaware 124 50 40% 142 60 42% +18 (+15%) +10 (+20%)

 Dist. Of Columbia 47 24 51% 67 34 50% +20 (+43%) +10 (+42%)

Hawaii 119 47 39% 135 72 53% +16 (+13%) +25 (+53%)

Idaho 264 91 34% 293 107 37% +29 (+11%) +16 (+18%)

Illinois 1,420 653 46% 1,453 639 44% +33 (+2.3%) -14 (-2.1%)

Indiana 792 262 33% 834 262 31% +42 (+5.3%) 0 (0%)

Iowa 405 137 34% 441 145 33% +36 (+8.9%) +8 (+5.8%)

Kansas 507 227 45% 471 206 44% -36 (-7.1%) -21 (-9.3%)

 Kentucky 915 302 33% 928 276 30% +13 (+1.4%) -26 (-8.6%)

Maine 216 50 23% 207 75 36% -9 (-4.2%) +25 (+50%)

 Maryland 661 276 42% 649 281 43% -12 (-1.8%) +5 (+1.8%)

 Massachusetts 459 224 49% 462 207 45% +3 (+0.7%) -17 (-7.6%)

 Michigan 1,277 494 39% 1,283 481 37% +6 (+0.5%) -13 (-2.6%)

 Minnesota 657 256 39% 657 267 41% 0 (0%) +11 (+4.3%)

 Missouri 1,208 518 43% 1,232 504 41% +24 (+2.0%) -14 (-2.7%)

 Nebraska 307 117 38% 293 121 41% -14 (-4.6%) +4 (+3.4%)

Nevada 381 165 43% 368 182 50% -13 (-3.4%) +17 (+10%)

 New Hampshire 127 50 39% 127 52 41% 0 (0%) +2 (+4.0%)

 New Jersey 771 281 36% 747 275 37% -24 (-3.1%) -6 (-2.1%)

 New York 1,530 482 31% 1,491 529 35% -39 (-2.5%) +47 (+9.8%)

 North Carolina 1,576 592 38% 1,531 554 36% -45 (-2.9%) -38 (-6.4%)

 North Dakota 97 49 50% 105 52 50% +8 (+8.2%) +3 (+6.1%)

 Oklahome 739 251 34% 668 255 38% -71 (-9.6%) +4 (+1.6%)

Oregon 436 180 41% 512 207 40% +76 (+17%) +27 (+15%)

 Rhode Island 84 46 55% 104 57 55% +20 (+24%) +11 (+24%)

 South Carolina 1,053 549 52% 968 488 50% -85 (-8.1%) -61 (-11%)

 South Dakota 180 92 51% 203 98 48% +23 (+13%) +6 (+6.5%)

 Tennessee 1,177 485 41% 1,193 447 37% +16 (+1.4%) -38 (-7.8%)

Utah 328 71 22% 309 46 15% -19 (-5.8%) -25 (-35%)

 Vermont 78 27 35% 69 29 41% -9 (-12%) +2 (+7.4%)

 Virginia 914 379 41% 943 364 39% +29 (+3.2%) -15 (-4.0%)

 Washington 658 299 45% 600 259 43% -58 (-8.8%) -40 (-13%)

 Wisconsin 803 360 45% 848 387 46% +45 (+5.6%) +27 (+7.5%)

 Wyoming 176 67 38% 165 62 38% -11 (-6.3%) -5 (-7.5%)

Source: NCSA FARS 2002 (Final) and 2003 (Annual Report Files)

1

 The 2002 numbers are based on the final version of the file and will differ from previously reported statistics for 2002 that were based on the Annual 

Report File.