New DUI stats, ad campaign from NHTSA

New numbers from the nation's highway agency:

ROCKVILLE, Md. (AP) — Federal traffic officials hope new ads promising arrest for drunken drivers will lower death statistics that have barely budged in a decade.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in a report Wednesday that 39 percent of all traffic deaths last year involved alcohol.
A total of 16,885 people died in alcohol-related crashes in 2005, including pedestrians and cyclists, down just 0.2 percent from 16,919 in 2004.
Fatal crashes involving at least one driver or motorcyclist with an illegal blood-alcohol level of 0.08 dropped more than 1 percent. But traffic deaths in crashes involving a blood-alcohol level of 0.15 — nearly twice the legal limit — were up nearly 1 percent.
Safety officials said little progress has been made during the past decade. In hopes of changing that, they are launching an $11 million advertising campaign targeting male drivers ages 21-34, along with stepped-up enforcement through Labor Day, including sobriety checkpoints and additional patrols.
The new advertising largely targets males, who had the highest percentage of drivers in fatal drunken driving crashes. One-third of the men in those fatal crashes were ages 21 to 34.
The ads include a new slogan, “Drunk Driving: Over the Limit. Under Arrest.” They replace previous spots that said, “You Drink. You Drive. You Lose.”
NHTSA drunken driving statistics:
http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/departments/nrd-30/ncsa/

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