DUI Fatalities Down Nationwide, Up in South Carolina, North Carolina

A report released by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration shows that nationally drunk driving related fatalities have decline, while North and South Carolina have increased.

In South Carolina, drunken driving fatalities have gone from 419 in 2006 to 463 in 2007 a 10.5 percent increase.

North Carolina saw the alcohol-related deaths go from 421 in 2006 to 487 in 2007 or a 15.7 percent increase.

Nationally, the U.S. Secretary of Transportation, Mary Peters, said that last year an estimated 12,998 people were killed in crashes where a driver was legally drunk.  She said that represented a 3.7 percent decline from the 13,491 fatalities in 2006. 

A total of 25 states reported increasing fatality rates.

To help combat the problem, the Department of Transportation is stepping up drunken driving enforcement during the holidays. Peters stated in a press release that when drinking, designate a driver.

Read the report along with state by state figures.