Drunk driving fatalities happen more often in Fremont County than anywhere in the US
JACKSON HOLE, Wyo. — Fremont County topped the list of highest percent of fatal crashes that were the result of drunk driving. Not only did Fremont post more fatal crashes of any kind in the past 19 years than just about every other county in the U.S., but the county that is home to Lander and Riverton was alone at the top where alcohol was concerned.
Drunk driving in the United States has long been identified as dangerous, responsible for over 10,000 traffic deaths every year.
Gerber Injury Law worked with 1Point21 Interactive to analyze all alcohol-related fatal crashes in the United States from 2000-2019. During the study period, there were a total of 360,585 alcohol-related fatal crashes, which included drivers who were either buzzed or drunk.
The study found buzzed driving is equally as dangerous as drunk driving, and in some cases, significantly more dangerous to road users. 184,004 crashes involved a buzzed driver, and 194,571 crashes involved a drunk driver; some involved both a drunk and buzzed driver.
For the study, the definition for a drunk driver was anyone with an actual or estimated blood alcohol concentration (BAC) level above the legal limit of 0.08. A buzzed driver was defined as anyone with a BAC level between 0.01 and 0.08.
Drunk driving crashes over time
During the study period, drunk driving crashes where at least one driver had a BAC over 0.08 peaked in 2005 with 15,985 fatalities. In 2019, while the data does show that drunk driving deaths are decreasing, there were still nearly 12,000 deaths attributed to drunk drivers.
Where do drunk driving crashes occur?
Drunk driving-related fatal crashes are not spread evenly across the U.S. Northern plains states have the highest rates. In some of the counties, more than half of all fatal crashes involved a drunk driver.
In this analysis, Gerber Injury Law studied the number of fatal crashes that occurred in counties with a population of over 25,000. By this metric, Wyoming’s Fremont County had the most drunk driving fatal crashes and Idaho’s Madison County had the least during the 19-year time frame.
In Fremont County, nearly half—47 percent of crashes—of the 250 fatal crashes involved a drunk driver. In Madison County, only six percent of the 53 crashes involved drunk driving.
