As the holidays and New Year celebrations come to a close, many families are hitting the road, putting a spotlight on driving safety.
Using research from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the FBI, and the Department of Transportation, Forbes Advisor identified the states with the highest rates of drunk driving.
Its November 2023 report, which looked at data across the 50 states, evaluated six key metrics, including the number of drunk drivers involved in fatal crashes, the number of drunk drivers under the age of 21 involved in fatal crashes, and DUI arrests per 100,000 drivers, and the number of people killed in crashes involving a drunk driver per 100,000 residents.
It also considered the percentage of total traffic deaths that were caused by drivers with a blood-alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.01 to 0.07, and the percentage of total traffic deaths caused by drivers with a BAC of 0.08 or higher. The legal limit in the US is 0.08%, so if a driver's BAC is above this in any state, they are presumed intoxicated.
Here are the top 10 worst states for drunk driving.