Byron Dorgan: “Drunk driving is killing a disproportionate number of young adults and youth in this country. In 1995, over 25,000…”

“Drunk driving is killing a disproportionate number of young adults and youth in this country. In 1995, over 25,000 children under the age of 21 were injured because of drinking and driving. In 1995, while 30 percent of the driving population was between the age of 21 and 34, 50 percent of the fatalities and 50 percent of the drunk driving injuries were in that same group. That amounts to 6,760 deaths and 95,800 injuries. A couple of other statistics. Hard-core drunk drivers cost us thousands of lives and billions of dollars. Fifty-five percent of the drunk driving offenders, an estimated 790,000 each year, are repeat offenders. An estimated $33 billion in economic costs can be attributed to hard-core drunk drivers involved in alcohol-related traffic fatalities in 1995.”