Mothers Against Drunk Driving reports that 7,919 crashes occurred in 2017 in Tennessee involved alcohol impaired drivers or drivers who used drugs. Some of the most

In 2017, most fatal crashes involving alcohol, drivers were well above the legal limit: Eighty-three percent had a BAC of 0.08 percent or greater, the national standard established during the Clinton administration. Authorities associate this level of intoxication with serious deficits in driving ability, including problems with muscle coordination and difficulty detecting impending danger. Scarier still, 58 percent of drivers had a BAC of 0.15 percent or greater - the approximate level a 160-pound man might reach after consuming seven drinks in an hour. These data suggest that most fatal drunk driving crashes are hardly ambiguous scenarios: The majority occurs following a concentrated period of alcohol consumption.

To better explore the impact of intoxicated driving fatalities a team at Delphi Health Group analyzed various Blood Alcohol Content levels across all 50 states in deadly drunk driving crashes using the newest data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Here's where Tennessee stands:

• TN has more roadway fatalities involving drivers with a Blood Alcohol Content levels of .08 and .15% than the U.S. average

• The state had a nearly 12% increase in deadly accidents involving drivers with a Blood Alcohol Content levels of .08% in just one year and a 6% increase in Blood Alcohol Content levels .15% or greater

• Meanwhile, the Blood Alcohol Content of drivers in fatal accidents in TN was below U.S. average--their Blood Alcohol Content is, on average, .1881%

Despite an enforced legal limit, drinking and driving rules and regulations aren't keeping Americans safe and although the crisis is nationwide, each state has its own story to tell.

For individuals under 21, driving with any amount of alcohol in one's system can result in legal trouble. In fact, concerns about teenage drunk driving prompted Congress to raise the legal drinking age to 21 in 1984. Yet, among drivers aged 16 to 20 who were involved in fatal accidents in 2017, 15 percent had a BAC of 0.08 percent or greater. More concerning still, other adolescents are often in the car: One recent study found that around a third of high schoolers had accepted a ride from an intoxicated driver. For adults between the ages of 21 and 34, fatal crashes were even more likely to involve alcohol. Among this cohort, more than a quarter of accidents involved a driver over the 0.08 limit.

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