17% of all traffic accidents are caused by Drunk Drivers, so 83% are caused by sober drivers...?

Question

So why are the police picking on drunks, we are safer drivers

Answer 1

Interesting how you put that.

That's kind of like saying if playing with fire causes 4% of all home fires, so 96% of all fires are caused by not playing with fire...

Last I checked, sober driving is not listed as a "cause" for an accidents.

Drunk Driving (or driving while impaired) is a cause like distracted driving, reckless driving, or speeding can be a cause.

For the top six causes, check out this article...
http://www.sixwise.com/newsletters/05/07/20/the_6_most_common_causes_of_automobile_crashes.htm

Answer 2

This is the old example how statistics can lie. The way I heard it was that if 7 out of 10 accidents are caused by sober drivers, then statistically it is far safer to drive when drunk. This has nothing to do with real accident figures. Others seem to have answered this without thinking about what the question is about, It is as I say, an example of how statistics can lie, nothing more.

Answer 3

I'm not sure where you get your stats from, and for which country/city.

1. You are also implying that 17% is small and insignificant.
For example, if there is a total of 10,000 accidents, then 17% would mean 1,700 accidents would be the result of drunk driving. When it comes to lives, 1,700 is not a small number my friend.

2. 17% of all traffic accidents are caused by drunk driving.
This is not the same as 17% of all drunk drivers get involved in traffic accidents. It could mean 90% of all drunk drivers get invollved in car accidents.

Answer 4

What is really funny is that studies here show that the majority of secondary accidents are caused by sober drivers "rubber-necking" to try to see the dead and mangled bodies of drunk drivers at accident scenes.

Whether the original driver was drunk or not. Does it really matter? The real problem is that people think they are better drivers than they are, drunk or sober.

Answer 5

The majority of drivers are not drunk, and driving happens a lot, so it's simple math that states that sober drivers would cause more accidents. It doesn't mean driving drunk is safer, it's just less of an occurance.

Third grade math sure was a tough one, wasn't it?

Answer 6

Because if the drivers werent drunk, the 17% could be eliminated. Of the 83% of sober accidents, there is no specific action that the Feds can take. You just can't fix stupid!

Answer 7

There are lies, dammned lies and then there are statistics.

You are bending the evidence.

Let's put it another way:-

Out of every 100 accidents, 17 involved drunk drivers.

However, if 10% of all drivers are drunk, that means that they are 1.7 times more likely to have an accident.

If only 1% of drivers are drunk, then they are 170 times more likely to have an accident.

If only 0.1% of drivers drive drunk (one per thousand), then that jumps to them being 1700 times more likely to have an accident than a sober driver.

Of course, if another 17% of accidents involve people using drugs, that would amount to 1/3rd of all accidents, wouldn't it?

Answer 8

Where did you get that stat? IME, 17% is way too high for the percentage caused by drunk drivers. The overwhelming majority of accidents are due to simple inattention and nothing else.

Answer 9

The police pick on the drunk drivers, because it is illegal to operate a motor vehicle underneath the influence of alcohol. There's no violation for driving while being "stupid" or inattentive.

The fact is, most accidents occur because of driver inattention (very generic - ability is impaired by):
1. age
2. roadway conditions
3. outside car distraction
4. reaction to other uninvolved vehicle
5. forgetting about blind spots
6. not maintaining proper following distances
7. passenger distraction
8. driver inexperience (either due to age or due to unfamiliarity with vehicle performance)
This is as opposed to a drunk driver (very specific - ability is impaired by alcohol or drugs).

Answer 10

I'm not quite sure what the question is... I think it is because 1) the number ONE reason for deaths in teens is accidents(alot drunks) 2) MANY MANY people get killed in drunk accidents all the time 3) most of the damage can be from drunks. Thanks for asking! Hope this helps. =)