Yesterday I did a piece on the latest drunk driving support memo from Sarah Longwell of the American Beverage Institute. In this article she basically tries to minimize the damage caused by intoxicated drivers by saying that alcohol-related statistics are grossly exaggerated by activist groups.
The number of deaths that activist groups attribute to drunk driving is grossly exaggerated. Last year, federal statisticians classified almost 18,000 deaths as "alcohol-related." However, alcohol-related does not mean alcohol-caused. In fact, that figure includes anyone killed in a crash in which at least one person (driver, pedestrian, cyclist, etc.) was estimated to have had any trace of alcohol. ~ Tampa Tribune
Unfortunately it is Mrs. Longwell who is misrepresenting the statistics here, the average BAC of fatally injured drunken drivers is .16, that’s twice the legal limit. Just for the record, almost 80% of all alcohol-related traffic fatalities are caused by someone who is legally drunk. It has been my (considerable and relevant) experience that alcohol related accidents are actually underreported if anything. While on the topic I figured I would share just the latest exaggerated instance of an alcohol-related traffic death.
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Sarah Longwell is the managing director of the American Beverage Institute (ABI) in Washington, D.C. The ABI is an association of restaurants that just happen to make the majority of their profits not from food, but alcohol sales. So this puts her in the unenviable position of having to defend those that drink and drive to and from these particular profit centers. 
