Driving Issue - Alcohol Impaired Driving

About every 20 minutes, someone is killed or hurt in Texas in a crash involving alcohol, according to TxDOT. Millions of motorists share Texas streets and highways every day. Impaired by alcohol, illicit drugs, over-the-counter medication and prescription drugs, many are in no condition to drive. Alcohol is cited as a contributing factor in almost half of all fatal traffic crashes in Texas, claiming more than 1,300 lives every year.

Alcohol is a factor in almost four of every ten work-related traffic crashes. What employees do after hours affects a company’s bottom line too—three times more fatal crashes involving impaired driving happen at night than during the day. As a result, on- and off-the-job alcohol-related crashes cost Texas employers more than $830 million a year (Network of Employers for Traffic Safety, 2000, amount adjusted for 2008 dollars).

See more facts about how impaired driving affects business (PDF download)


Best Practice Resource Pages

SCREENING & BRIEF INTERVENTION, or SBI, is one of the most cost-effective strategies available to employers to reduce alcohol and other drug related problems, including risky drinking leading to impaired driving. Learn more about SBI and visit links to online resources.

Texas leads the nation in traffic deaths where drivers had a BAC of .08 or higher.

NHTSA, 2008

Consider the effects of alcohol on operations and expenses of a typical company with 100 employees.

-- Among employees and dependents, 21 people have drinking problems.
-- Three extra work days will be lost each month due to sickness, injury, and absence related to problem drinking. These lost days will cost an employer an average of $5,020 per year in wages and $39,241 in alcohol-related health care costs.
-- Two extra emergency room visits will cost $2,383 plus $5,307 for each day the patient is in the hospital.
Source: George Washington University Medical Center, Ensuring Solutions to Alcohol Problems
Alcohol Cost Calculator for Business