Too Fast, Too Impaired: The Outcomes of Speeding and Drinking

Most people know that driving under the influence is one of the most dangerous things you can do on the road. But there’s something else dangerous that many drivers do every day without even thinking about it: speeding. Both speeding and drunk driving are each responsible for thousands of fatal car crashes per year — and for drivers who combine the two, the numbers are even more disturbing. 

Is speeding as dangerous as drunk driving, and how much more dangerous is it to do both? Where do people do it most, and who tends to do it most often? Using data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), we set out to learn the how, who, and where of drunk driving and speeding.

Data Highlights

• On average, drunk drivers account for 960 more fatal crashes each year than speeders.
• Approximately 2 in 5 fatal drunk driving crashes also include speeding.
• Gen Z drivers are the only generation to have more fatal crashes caused by speeding than drunk driving.
• Mississippi, Nebraska, and North Carolina are the states with the highest increase in fatal collisions caused by speeding since 2018.
• South Carolina, Kansas, and Maryland are the states with the highest increase in fatal collisions caused by drunk driving.
• Alaska, New Hampshire, and New Mexico are the states with the highest percentage of drunk driving crashes also involving speeding.

Determining the Most Dangerous Culprit

According to the NHTSA data, drunk drivers caused almost 1,000 more fatal crashes per year than speeders did. Here’s how the demographics break down for drivers involved in these collisions:

Gen Z was the only generation that was more likely to be speeding than under the influence during a fatal crash. (That might have something to do with lower overall alcohol use among Zoomers.) For every other generation, from Boomers to Millennials, alcohol was tied with or more common than speeding as a cause of traffic deaths.

Drinking and Speeding Across America

The NHTSA data also allowed us to examine which states had more fatal crashes from drunk driving and which ones had more from speeding. The results displayed some regional differences:

Link: https://public.flourish.studio/visualisation/21794132/

Generally, Southern states seemed to have more deaths attributable to drunk driving than speeding. Overall, that’s consistent with other data that shows elevated rates of drunk driving deaths in some (though not all) southern states, especially South Carolina and Texas. Meanwhile, more speeding deaths happened in the mid-Atlantic and Western states. 

Treacherous Trends

Fatal crashes involving alcohol and/or speeding have fallen in many states, but risen in others. Here’s how our data show the trends playing out in different states:

Link: https://public.flourish.studio/visualisation/21794254/

Speeding deaths rose in many states between 2018 and 2022. Mississippi (154% increase), Nebraska (87% increase), and North Carolina (72% increase) had the worst increases in speeding deaths, while Vermont (33% decrease), North Dakota (31% decrease), and Alaska (27% decrease) led the charge in reducing speeding deaths. 

Drunk driving crashes also rose in many states, with South Carolina (57% increase), Kansas (49% increase), and Maryland (45% increase) all headed the wrong way. Again, however, there were some bright spots, with Alaska (38% decrease), Montana (23% decrease), and Connecticut (22% decrease) all reducing the number of drunk driving crashes between 2018 and 2022. 

Double the Danger

Finally, we looked at the number of drunk drivers who were also speeding when they caused a fatal crash. We found that in approximately 2 out of 5 crashes where the driver had been drinking alcohol, they were also speeding.

We observed demographic differences here, too. Gen Z drivers were the most likely also to have been speeding before a drunk driving crash, while Boomers were the least likely. That could be rooted in the fact that younger drivers, especially teenagers, tend to speed more than older ones. 

Meanwhile, male drivers who caused a drunk driving crash were about 4 percent more likely to be speeding than female drivers — matching the tendency of male drivers to speed more in general.

The Worst States for Drinking While Speeding

The combination of alcohol and speeding is especially deadly. Since alcohol lowers inhibitions, it makes sense that it could also loosen drivers’ judgment in maintaining a safe speed — and in fact, an article published in the journal Traffic Injury Prevention found that higher speeds made alcohol-related crashes significantly more dangerous.

Overall, Alaska (67%), New Hampshire (63%), and New Mexico (58%) had the highest rates of speeding in fatal drunk driving crashes. All three are known as some of America’s most scenic states — so some drivers here would benefit from slowing down, sobering up, and enjoying the natural beauty. 

Link: https://public.flourish.studio/visualisation/21794714/

Staying Safe

Road safety is every driver’s responsibility — no matter which state you live in, or which generation you’re part of. Any time you’re drinking alcohol, make sure you have a transportation plan that doesn’t involve driving. And if you’re prone to speeding, get the facts on the dangers of aggressive driving.

Smart Start is committed to reducing unsafe driving in all its forms. Our Ignition Interlock Devices help keep intoxicated drivers off the road while providing a chance for drivers with a DUI to stay compliant and get their transportation back on track.