Apparently someone’s winning the so-called battle of the sexes these days, though not in the way some would prefer. Based on a recent study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), male drivers are more likely to operate a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol than female drivers. As New Jersey drunk driving defense attorneys, we can add that that with a higher rate of men driving while intoxicated that this portion of the population likely has a higher incidence of DWI arrests.
While it is true that not everyone who gets behind the wheel of a car, truck, motorcycle or watercraft when legally intoxicated is arrested and charged with drunken driving, it is also true that of those who are caught with a 0.08-percent or greater blood-alcohol content (or BAC) are sometimes surprised that they received a summons for DWI.
Similarly, with police enforcement of anti-drunk driving laws, a percentage of these arrests involve individuals accused of being impaired by doctor-prescribed medication (drug DUI) or even illicit drugs, such as cocaine and marijuana. These DUI cases arise from many of the same circumstances as DWI police stops; of course, both types of arrests can also occur at any of the dozens of DWI roadblocks and drunken driving checkpoints held every year in the Garden State.
As for the CDC’s report, nationwide, men are as much as four times more likely to get behind the wheel of a car or truck after having more than one drink than their female counterparts. According to news reports, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that this trend applies as much to residents of New Jersey as well as other states; verified by our own state’s Division of Highway Traffic Safety, local statistics indicate that 80 percent of fatal DWI traffic accidents involve a male driver.
