Worcester Police Dept. Awarded Grant to Reduce Impaired Driving

Wednesday, December 26, 2018

GoLocalWorcester News Team

The Worcester Police Department was awarded a special grant from the Highway Safety Division to increase the number of impaired driving patrol during the holiday season.

“Arranging for a sober ride home before celebrating should be a part of everyone’s plans for the holiday season. In 2016 alone, impaired drivers took the lives of 79 innocent people in our state. This campaign recognizes the important role cab, ride-share drivers, MBTA operators or a sober friend willing to take you home, play in reducing the number of people killed in impaired driving crashes,” said Jeff Larason, Director of the EOPSS Highway Safety Division.

MA Impaired Driving Data

Marijuana was the most prevalent drug found in drivers involved in fatal crashes from 2012-2016.
From 2012-2016, an average of 10% of all drivers involved in fatal crashes were found with both alcohol and drugs in their system.
From 2015 to 2016, alcohol impaired driving fatalities increased 41 percent (105 to 148).
In 2016, impaired drivers killed 79 people – an increase of 19 fatalities from 2015.
From 2011-2015, 82 percent of impaired drivers in fatal crashes were men.
From 2011-2015, 45 percent of all alcohol-related driver fatalities were ages 21 to 34.

Impaired Driving in U.S.

Approximately one-third of all traffic crash fatalities in the United States involve drunk drivers.

In 2017, there were 10,874 people killed in these preventable crashes. In fact, on average, more than 10,000 people have died each year (2013 to 2017) in drunk-driving crashes.

To put it in perspective, that’s equal to about 20 jumbo jets crashing, with no survivors.

In 2017, almost one in five children (14 and younger) killed in traffic crashes were killed in drunk-driving crashes. Fifty-four percent of the time, it was the child’s own driver who was drunk.