December 2023 Edition

National Drunk & Drug-Impaired Driving Prevention Month

Approximately one-third (31%) of all traffic crash fatalities in the United States involve drunk drivers with BACs of .08 g/dL or higher; a driver is considered legally impaired when the blood alcohol concentration (BAC) measures 0.08 or higher. Alcohol severely limits a driver’s ability to safely operate a motor vehicle, impairing their judgment and slowing reaction time. The consequences can be deadly, which is why it is illegal to operate a vehicle while impaired in all 50 U.S. states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico.

In 1982, 48% of all traffic deaths involved alcohol-impaired crashes. This is down to 31% of deaths in 2021. Many programs have contributed to the decrease in alcohol-related deaths on U.S. roads, including high visibility enforcement, minimum drinking age laws, and public awareness campaigns. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimates that minimum drinking age laws have saved more than 31,000 lives from 1975 to 2017 (more recent estimates are not available).

According to NHTSA, fatal drunk driving accidents rose in 2020 for the first time in five years and rose again in 2021. There were 13,384 people killed in these preventable crashes in 2021. In every state, it’s illegal to drive drunk, and yet one person was killed in a drunk driving crash every 39 minutes in the United States in 2021.

Car crashes are a leading cause of death for teens, and about one-fourth of those crashes involve an underage drinking driver. In 2019, 24% of young drivers aged 15 to 20 years old who were killed in crashes had BACs of .01 g/dL or higher and 19% had BACs of.08 g/dL or higher.

In 2021, the highest percentage of drunk drivers (with BACs of .08 g/dL or higher) were 21- to 34-year-olds at 27%. Men are more likely to be involved in drunk driving crashes with four male drunk drivers to every one female drunk driver.

Repeat offenders are also a serious problem. Drunk drivers who have been involved in fatal crashes are four times more likely to have had prior convictions for driving while impaired than were drivers with no alcohol in their systems (9% and 2% respectively).

It is common knowledge that drinking and driving is a crime with serious penalties. It is also common knowledge that it is dangerous to get behind the wheel of a vehicle if you are under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs. What are some ways to prevent drunk driving? Here are just a few:

If you go out alone, do not drink alcohol
Never feel pressured to drink alcohol
Plan ahead of time to take public transportation, call a taxi or Uber/Lyft, or enlist a designated driver before you drink
Never get in a car with a driver who has been drinking
Support the public schools providing school-based instructional programs about alcohol use. These have shown to be effective at teaching teens not to ride with drunk drivers

For more information on drunk driving and ways to prevent it visit:

Drunk Driving Prevention | MADD

What Works: Strategies to Reduce or Prevent Alcohol-Impaired Driving

Driver Alcohol Detection System for Safety (DADSS)

Drug-Impaired Driving

Drug-impaired driving is defined as driving under the influence of over-the-counter medications, prescription drugs, marijuana, or illegal drugs. According to the 2020 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 11.7 million people drove under the influence of illicit drugs in 2020.

After alcohol, marijuana is the drug most often found in the blood of drivers involved in crashes. Several studies have shown that drivers with THC in their blood were roughly twice as likely to be responsible for a deadly crash or be killed than drivers who hadn't used drugs or alcohol.

It's hard to measure how many crashes are caused by drugged driving. This is due to a number of factors, including:

a good roadside test for drug levels in the body doesn't yet exist
some drugs can stay in your system for days or weeks after use, making it difficult to determine when the drug was used, and therefore, how and if it impaired driving
police don't usually test for drugs if drivers have reached an illegal blood alcohol level because there's already enough evidence for a DUI charge
many drivers who cause crashes are found to have both drugs and alcohol or more than one drug in their system, making it hard to know which substance had the greater effect

According to the Governors Highway Safety Association, 43.6 percent of fatally injured drivers in 2016 tested positive for drugs, and over half of those drivers tested positive for two or more drugs.

It isn't only illegal drugs that impair your ability to drive. According to the US Federal Drug Administration (FDA), drugs that can impair your driving ability include:

prescription drugs for anxiety
some antidepressants
products containing codeine
some cold remedies and allergy products
tranquilizers
sleeping pills
pain relievers
diet pills
“stay awake” drugs, and other medications with stimulants (e.g. caffeine, ephedrine, pseudoephedrine)

Driving impaired under the influence of prescription and over-the-counter (OTC) products that cause impairment is considered a DUI in most states in the U.S., Canada, and other countries.

For more information on how you can help stop drug-impaired driving check out the following websites:

StopDruggedDriving.org

Drugged Driving Prevention | MADD

Older Driver Safety

Awareness Week

December 4-8, 2023 is Older Driver Safety Awareness Week. This is a week to raise awareness of the unique challenges that older drivers face and provide information on how to stay safe on the road. Florida has a significant number of aging road users with 18% of its drivers over the age of 65; that number is expected to grow to 27% by the year 2030; resulting in almost one in three drivers on the road being over the age of 65. Some helpful resources for older drivers include:

The River to Sea TPO Annual Holiday Open House will be held on Thursday, December 7, 2023, from 4:00 - 6:00 p.m. at the Bahama Breeze Restaurant located at 1786 W. International Speedway Boulevard.

Don't forget to bring a new, unwrapped gift to benefit the Department of Children and Families and the Neighborhood Center of West Volusia.

Please RSVP to PBlankenship@r2ctpo.org.

River to Sea TPO November Activity Calendar

Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
12/3	12/4	12/5	12/6 River to Sea TPO Board Meeting*9:00 am	12/7 TPO Annual Holiday Open House 4-6 pm Bahama Breeze Restaurant Daytona Beach	12/8 TPO Annual Call for Projects Open	12/9
12/10	12/11	12/12	12/13	12/14	12/15	12/16
12/17	12/18	12/19	12/20	12/21	12/22	12/23
12/24	12/25 TPO Office Closed	12/26	12/27	12/28	12/29	12/30
12/31	1/1 TPO Office Closed	1/2	1/3 Executive Committee Meeting** 9:00 am	1/4	1/5	1/6

*Meeting held in the Dennis R. McGee Room at Daytona Beach International Airport, 700 Catalina Drive, Daytona Beach (parking will be validated)

**Meeting held at the River to Sea TPO office, 1 Deuce Court, Suite 100, Daytona Beach

Upcoming TPO Board

& Committee Activities

On December 8, 2023, the TPO will open its annual Call for Projects. Beginning on that date, the TPO will be accepting transportation project funding applications for the 2024 Priority Project Process. Applications will be accepted through February 29, 2024, and will be used by the River to Sea TPO and Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) to qualify and prioritize proposed projects for funding.

Regular meetings of the River to Sea TPO Board and Advisory Committees will not be held during the month of December and will resume in January 2024. The River to Sea TPO wishes everyone a safe and happy holiday season!