Drinking and Driving – Statistics and Queries Tell the Story

The statistics concerning drinking and driving are staggering. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), in 2005, 16,885 people in the U.S. died in alcohol-related motor vehicle crashes. This represents 39% of all traffic related deaths. Similar statistics by MADD Canada (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) show that out of 3,010 individuals killed in motor vehicle crashes, 1,157 (38%) of those involved impaired driving.

With well over one million online queries a year, the subject of drinking and driving is clearly of particular interest to many Internet users. This search frequency study examines searches for “drinking and driving” over a one-year period. The results help addictions specialists track fluctuations in drinking and driving occurrences from year to year.

Drunk Driving – State of Florida Cracks Down

One striking aspect of this study is the third most common two-word combination, “florida dui”. With 166,735 queries, this geographic specific search seems out of place among the more general searches topping Graph 1. One possible explanation for the prevalence of Florida searches may be related to recent changes in Florida’s DUI laws, making them some of the toughest in the country. The results of new legislation have lead to a reduction in alcohol-related fatalities in this state. In fact, in 2006, Florida was 8.2% below the national average for alcohol-related traffic fatalities.

California is also working to toughen their drunk driving laws as evidenced by the frequency of “san diego dui” searches at 60,472.

Drinking And Driving - Prevalent Search Topics - Graph 1

(Continued on Graph 3 at the bottom of this page)

Top 30 two and three word combinations

	estimated searches/year across all search engines
	0		1300000
drunk driving	1247863
dui lawyer	175741
florida dui	166735
drinking and driving	160987
dui attorney	128717
drunk driving accidents	97212
dui laws	95246
drunk driving statistics	75736
florida dwi	72069
drunk driving attorney	68008
dwi attorney	64430
arizona dui	62968
san diego dui	60472
dui law	53273
mickey rourke dui	49640
florida drunk driving	49373
dui attorneys	49168
dui defense	49048
florida dui lawyer	38849
san diego dui lawyer	38764
against drunk driving	37463
dui lawyers	34637
drunk driving facts	34331
dwi lawyer	33975
drunk driving lawyer	33162
central florida dui	32732
dui dwi	30801
florida dui attorney	30249
driving under the influence	29084
dwi law	28240
	0		1300000

Drunk Driving Laws – Understanding the Differences

Another interesting aspect of this investigation is an analysis of the phrases used to search different offences concerning drunk driving laws. Two prevalent searches take precedence, “dui” and “dwi”. DUI stands for “driving under the influence” and DWI stands for “driving while intoxicated” or “driving while impaired”. Graph 2 shows that “dui” appears in a staggering 1,340,028 searches while “dwi” was used in 437,075 searches, a difference of 902,953. In the past, a DUI charge was often a lesser offence, but with the adoption of zero tolerance laws, it is more common that both DUI and DWI charges carry similar penalties.

Drinking And Driving Market Research - Graph 2

Top 100 words used in drinking and driving searches
(Top 1000 can be found at Top 100 drinking and driving exact phrases and top 1,000 concepts/words. - Graph 5)

	estimated searches/year across all search engines
	0		1600000
driving	1530336
dui	1340028
drunk	1283854
dwi	437075
florida	318487
attorney	286073
lawyer	255009
drinking	184512
laws	154034
accidents	137262
statistics	106246
san	104327
law	98341
diego	96234
massachusetts	82024
central	76830
defense	74643
arizona	74451
oui	72598
attorneys	66922
california	64743
lawyers	57697
orlando	52693
facts	52495
mickey	49640
rourke	49640
crashes	47435
drink	46537
articles	45479
car	44331
county	41772
texas	40923
accident	39484
against	39099
illinois	38412
phoenix	34567
pictures	32149
angeles	31781
teenage	31762
los	31718
influence	30166
mothers	28068
pa	28010
teens	27139
missouri	27007
houston	26705
georgia	23761
arrested	23390
teen	22607
penalties	21717
state	21683
drive	21368
plea	20971
bargain	20790
crash	19539
matt	18963
about	18953
roloff	18928
victims	18912
new	18654
arrest	18483
poems	16943
alcohol	16611
washington	16361
ohio	16073
paris	16064
deaths	15932
stories	14933
videos	13710
pics	12549
maryland	12248
consequences	11223
insurance	11214
how	11010
from	10481
records	10375
stop	10162
jacksonville	9981
school	9878
minnesota	9114
information	8864
lake	8428
city	8409
test	8363
atlanta	8292
oregon	8047
virginia	8040
sutherland	7980
colorado	7958
kiefer	7940
pennsylvania	7924
north	7664
arrests	7423
michigan	7243
stats	7242
mason	7239
tacoma	7103
hilton	7067
indiana	6847
people	6779
	0		1600000

Using Technology to Improve Alcohol Addictions Research

Clear Haven Center, a prominent drug and alcohol rehabilitation center just outside Montreal, Quebec, generously sponsors search frequency research. The addiction specialists at Clear Haven use the results of this innovative, technologically advanced research to improve addictions programming and resources.

Drinking And Driving - Prevalent Search Topics, Continued - Graph 3

Top 31 - 100 two and three word combinations
(Top 30 are in Graph 1 above)

	estimated searches/year across all search engines
	8,000		29,000
mothers against drunk driving	27652
drunk driving car	27629
drink driving	27363
drunk driving laws	26566
california dui	25165
massachusetts dui	24805
houston dwi	23544
dui accidents	23499
drunk driving crashes	23456
teenage drunk driving	23197
dwi laws	23000
florida drunk driving attorney	22849
illinois dui	22034
phoenix arizona dui	21728
driving drunk	20965
florida dui law	20761
orlando dui	19969
teens drunk driving	19794
central florida dwi	19199
florida dui defense	18876
drunk driving accident	18868
florida dwi law	18327
massachusetts drunk driving	17551
massachusetts drunk driving attorney	17522
pa dui	17369
drinking driving	17152
san diego dui attorney	16824
missouri dwi	16317
matt roloff dui	15778
houston dwi attorney	15713
central florida dui lawyer	15358
drink and drive	14129
arizona dui defense	13878
phoenix arizona dui defense	13585
teen drunk driving	13534
drunk driving defense	13333
dui accident	12569
massachusetts dwi	12528
massachusetts dui lawyer	12412
texas dwi	12078
phoenix dui	11907
massachusetts dui attorney	11866
articles on drunk driving	11849
drunk driving car crash	11714
oui attorney	11686
dui articles	10954
dui statistics	10534
drunk driving pics	10310
massachusetts dwi attorney	10221
orlando dwi	10112
dwi defense	10066
drunk driving law	10059
drunk driving videos	10033
dui attorneys los angeles	9911
dui crashes	9613
arizona dui lawyer	9569
dui school	9561
dui arrest	9532
about drunk driving	9498
orlando dui lawyer	9492
ohio dui	9366
texas dui	9364
dui attorneys california	9185
missouri dui	9172
paris dui	9170
los angeles dui	9150
drunk driving victims	8992
dwi attorneys	8823
dui lawyers california	8449
illinois dwi	8328
	8,000		29,000