Alcohol-related fatalities for all ages decreased in 1996. Since 1982, youth fatalities have declined by almost 26 percent compared to a small increase for adults. Alcohol-related fatalities declined by 57 percent for youth and 24 percent for adults. During the past 10 years, youth alcohol-related fatalities declined by 50 percent . There were 1,242 fewer alcohol-related youth fatalities in 1996 than there were in 1990.
Young males continue to outnumber young females by a wide margin in fatalities.
However, young male fatalities have declined by over 18 percent since 1990. During the same time period young female fatalities have barely declined. During 1996, a young person died in a traffic crash an average of once an hour during the weekend and once every two hours on weekdays. About half of all youth weekend fatalities were alcohol-related compared to 28 percent for weekdays. In 1996, the greatest number of youth alcohol-related fatalities occurred in August.