Drunken-driving deaths fall

WASHINGTON — Washington is among 40 states in which drunken-driving fatality rates have declined, according to the Transportation Department.

Nationally, 11,773 people were killed in drunken-driving crashes in 2008 for a rate of 0.4 per 100 million vehicle miles traveled, the department said Monday. In 2007, 13,041 motorists were killed in alcohol-impaired crashes for a rate of 0.43.

Fifty fewer people in Washington died in drunken-driving crashes in 2008 over 2007.

Vermont, Wisconsin, Maine, Nebraska, Minnesota, Connecticut, South Dakota and Arizona, plus the District of Columbia, saw fatality rates involving alcohol-linked crashes decline by 20 percent or more.

The rates were virtually unchanged in three states — Delaware, Florida and Pennsylvania — but increased in seven states: New Hampshire, Kansas, Wyoming, Rhode Island, Idaho, Oklahoma and Colorado.

Chuck Hurley, chief executive officer of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, noted that improvements were made in states such as New Mexico and Arizona that have adopted tough laws using breath-monitoring ignition interlock devices for offenders.

All 50 states and the District of Columbia have set a blood alcohol concentration of 0.08 as drivers’ legal limit.

States that made the most progress on impaired driving fatalities had been the most aggressive in arresting and prosecuting offenders and using patrols and checkpoints to keep their roads safe, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said.