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Ignition Interlock Device and DUI Statistics

Statistics have shown the implementation of ignition interlock devices can save lives and reduce recidivism. Learn the consequences of drinking and driving, the benefits of ignition interlocks and home alcohol monitoring devices, and how drinking and driving are affecting our youth.

Alcohol impairment & drunk driving

  • 11,654 people were killed in drunk driving crashes in 2020.
Source: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 2022
  • The frequency of a fatality caused by drunk driving was 1 death for every 45 minutes in 2020.
Source: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 2022
  • Every day in America, another 32 people die as a result of drunk driving crashes.
Source: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 2022
  • In 2020, the estimated cost of alcohol-impaired related deaths totaled about $123.3 billion.
Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2022
  • Drunk driving costs each adult in the U.S. over $500 per year. 
Source: Mothers Against Drunk Driving, 2011
  • Drunk driving costs the U.S $132 billion dollars each year.
Source: Mothers Against Drunk Driving, 2011
  • In 2020, 16% of all drivers involved in fatal crashes during the week were alcohol-impaired, compared to 27% on the weekends.
Source: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration FARS data, 2022
  • In fatal crashes in 2020, the highest percentage of drunk drivers were for ages 21 to 24 and 25 to 34, respectively (26% each), followed by 35 to 44 (23%).
Source: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 2022
  • Each day, people drive drunk over 300,000 times, but only about 2,800 are arrested.
Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2015
  • Impairment is not determined by the type of drink, but rather by the amount of alcohol drunk over time.
Source: National Highway Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, 2012
  • Data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System indicated that 1.2% of adults in 2020 drove after having too much to drink in the past 30 days. This resulted in an estimated 127 million episodes of alcohol-impaired driving.
Source: Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, 2020
Drunk driving crashes
Arrests under the influence
  • Almost half of drivers killed in crashes who tested positive for drugs also had alcohol in their system.
Source: SAMHSA, 2016
  • The National Survey on Drug Use and Health found that an estimated 18.5 million U.S. residents ages 16 years and older drove under the influence of alcohol in 2020.
Source: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 2020
  • Every 2 minutes a person is injured in a drunk driving crash.
Source: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Fars data, 2014
  • About 1 million arrests are made in the U.S. each year for driving under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs.
Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2019
  • It can cost another's life. Alcohol-related traffic crashes don't only affect the impaired driver. Of all drunk driving fatalities, 38% are non-drivers - either occupants of other vehicles, pedestrians, or passengers.
Source: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Fars data, 2020
  • An average drunk driver has driven drunk 80 times before first arrest.
Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2014
  • Drivers with a BrAC at 0.08 are four times more likely to crash than that of drivers at zero BrAC.
Source: National Highway Traffic Safety Association, 2015
  • Males were more likely than females (4 to 1) to drive drunk.
Source: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 2022
  • Between 60% and 80% of drivers with suspended licenses continue to drive.
Source: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 2010
  • Law enforcement made 1.4 million arrests for driving under the influence in 2010. 20% are repeat offenders.
Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation. Crime in the United States, 2010
  • 23 million Americans are currently addicted to alcohol and/or other drugs. Alcohol abuse accounts for the majority 18.7 million people.
Source: Closing the Addiction Treatment Gap (CATG), 2009
Frequency of arrests
  • If all 17 million people who admitted to driving drunk had their own state, it would be the fifth largest in the U.S.
Source: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 2009
  • Due to increased public awareness, prevention, enforcement and treatment and recovery, alcohol-impaired driving deaths have decreased 48.5% from 1982 (26,172) to 2006 (13,470).
Source: National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, Inc., 2006
  • The average person metabolizes alcohol at the rate of about one drink per hour.
Source: Michigan State University, Basic Alcohol Information, 2003
  • A standard drink is defined as 12 ounces of beer, 5 ounces of wine, or 1.5 ounces of distilled spirits, which contain the same amount of alcohol.
Source: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 2002
  • On average, one in three people will be involved in a drunk driving crash in their lifetime.
Source: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 2001
  • 14% of intoxicated drivers in fatal crashes have a current suspended or revoked license.
Source: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

Home and fleet alcohol monitoring

Source: U.S. Department of Justice, 2011
  • Electronic monitoring [home alcohol monitoring] may increase over time as states seek less expensive alternatives to imprisonment. The cost of imprisonment is about 6 times higher than the cost of electronic monitoring.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, 2011
  • 39% of work-related traffic crashes are caused by alcohol.
Source: Occupational Safety & Health Administration
Cost of electronic monitoring

Ignition interlock devices

  • “A wealth of research continues to show that drivers compelled to install ignition interlock device or IIDs in their vehicles tend to have far fewer alcohol-related crashes, than drivers who have had their license suspended after being convicted of a DUI offense. Not only that, as a study in contrasts, IIDs are more effective than other methods at reducing re-arrest among convicted drunk drivers and keeping them off the road.”
Source: John B. Townsend II, AAA Mid-Atlantic’s Manager of Public and Government Affairs, 2014
  • Currently, 81 million Americans live in states that have all-offender ignition interlock laws, compared to 2 million Americans in 2006, and are therefore afforded additional protection against the alcohol-impaired driver. However, arrest data show ignition interlocks are still a vastly underutilized tool. This under utilization is evident by simply comparing the approximately 180,000 interlocks [ignition interlock devices, IID] in use in the United States in 2008 to the approximately 1.4 million impaired driving arrests made. This comparison shows there still is a long way to go to using ignition interlocks [ignition interlock devices, IID] to their full potential.
Source: Brian A. Ursino, Director of Law Enforcement, American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators, 2014
  • DUI deaths decreased by 26% in states which have enacted all-offender interlock laws.
Source: Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), 2022
More effective in reducing repeat drunk driving offenses
  • IIDs are 74% more effective in reducing repeat drunk driving offenses (called recidivism) than a full license suspension for first time offenders.
Source: California DMV Pilot, 2016
Source: Annual Survey of Currently-Installed Ignition Interlocks in the US, 2013
  • Specifically, all offender ignition interlock laws, when implemented well, are found to reduce repeat offenses significantly.
Source: McCartt, Anne, et al. “Washington State’s Alcohol Ignition Interlock Law: Effects on Recidivism Among First-Time DUI Offenders.” 2012
  • About 1/3 of impaired driving offenders are arrested for a subsequent offense. Ignition interlocks [car breathalyzer] can prevent these drivers from re-offending while the devices are installed.
Source: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration FARS data, 2012
  • Effective strategies to reduce alcohol-impaired driving are underutilized in the United States. Examples include sobriety checkpoints, enforcement of 0.08 BAC laws and minimum legal drinking age laws, multicomponent community-based programs, and ignition interlock programs for all convicted alcohol-impaired driving offenders.
Source: Centers for Disease Control, 2011
  • Public support for preventing alcohol-impaired driving is strong. Public support for ignition interlock programs is strong. These programs install ignition interlock devices (IID) in the vehicles of persons convicted of alcohol-impaired driving to prevent them from operating the vehicle if they have been drinking. In a recent survey, 90% of respondents supported requiring ignition interlocks for drivers with multiple alcohol-impaired driving convictions, and 69% supported this requirement for drivers upon their first conviction. Historically, ignition interlock programs have targeted persons with multiple alcohol-impaired driving convictions. As of August 2011, 14 states had passed legislation requiring or strongly encouraging use of ignition interlocks for persons upon their first alcohol-impaired driving conviction. Ignition interlocks reduce alcohol-impaired driving rearrest rates by a median 67% while installed and are estimated to result in a 6.6 benefit:cost ratio (8); however, only about 20% of eligible offenders currently are enrolled in ignition interlock programs.
Source: Centers for Disease Control, 2011
Percentage of drivers in fatal crashes
  • Alcohol-impaired driving killed more than 10,000 people in the United States [in 2009], making driving while intoxicated (DWI) one of our Nation’s most important highway safety issues. Increasingly, states are using ignition interlocks [ignition interlock devices, IID] as a key part of their overall strategy to reduce the incidence of DWI and to save lives.
Source: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 2010
  • There is clear evidence that the ignition interlock device (IID), installed in the offender’s vehicle, is substantially more effective than license suspension in deterring DUI recidivism. The overall reduction in recidivism realized by ignition interlock device (IID) use is enhanced by increased duration of installation – a sanction effect not observed for license suspension.
Source: NIAAA Final Report, 2008
  • Over 90% of ignition interlock [car breathalyzer] users reported that the device has been successful to very successful in preventing them from drinking and driving; over 90% also reported that the ignition interlock has been effective or somewhat effective in changing their drinking habits.
Source: Drew Malloy, American Probation and Parole Association, 2007
  • From 2006 to 2020, ignition interlocks have prevented more than 3.78 million drunk driving attempts with a BAC of .08 or greater.
Source: Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), 2021

Youth DUI Statistics

  • Although drinking by persons under the age of 21 is illegal, people aged 12 to 20 years drink 11% of all alcohol consumed in the United States. More than 90% of this alcohol is consumed in the form of binge drinks.
Source: Centers for Disease Control, 2015
  • The 2019 Youth Risk Behavior Survey found that among teens, in the past month
  • 29% drank alcohol
  • 14% binge drank
  • 5% drove after drinking alcohol
  • 17% rode with a driver who had been drinking alcohol
Source: Centers for Disease Control, 2019
  • Drinking and driving [among youth] continues to be an issue of great importance. Drinking and driving rounds out the list of teens’ top three social concerns. More than one-third of teens (35%) cite drinking and driving as an issue they care strongly about, making it their top life-and-death issues and ranking it third overall following child abuse (40%) and education (40%).
Source: The TRU Study, 2012
  • In 2013, there were approximately 119,000 emergency rooms visits by persons aged 12 to 21 for injuries and other conditions linked to alcohol. This does not include fatalities. Traffic accidents are the number one cause of death for minors.
Source: Centers for Disease Control, 2017
  • The rate of drunk driving fatalities in 2020 was highest among 21- to 24-year-olds (26%).
Source: NHTSA, 2022
Ages of drivers in fatal drunk driving crashes

Intoxalock Interlock Company Statistics

  • The most reviewed ignition interlock company with 5 stars and over 45,000+ reviews.
Source: TrustPilot.com
  • Intoxalock helped over 150,000 people get back on the road last year after a DUI offense.
  • Install locations within 15 miles or less of 91% of our customers.
  • Intoxalock's ignition interlock devices have zero warm-up time in cold temps (down to 0°F) to get you on the road quickly.
  • Intoxalock is state-certified in 46 states, and provider for voluntary and in-home monitoring systems in all 50 states.
  • For around $2.50 to $3.50 per day (depending on your location and vehicle make/model/year) you can be back on the road with an Intoxalock device.
  • Intoxalock has the largest service center network with over 5,000+ locations nationwide.

Learn more about Intoxalock:

More installation locations than any other provider

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Easy-to-understand and affordable pricing