Some startling news for those of us driving sober. A lot of our fellow Californians are driving drunk. REALLY drunk.
A new study from Delphi Behavioral Health Group shows drunk drivers involved in fatal accidents in California have blood alcohol levels more than twice the legal limit. The average---which means half are higher, half are lower---is .1802. Remember, .08 is considered the threshold where you are legally under the influence in the state of California.
Now, that does put us below the national average---Pennsylvania, Oregon, Massachussetts, Virginia, Wisconsin, Alaska and Alabama are all above .20---but that's grading on a pretty grim curve.
Worse, the number of DUI-involved fatal accidents in California went up 5.2 percent last year. And--the number of accidents involving a driver whose blood alcohol was .15---almost double the legal standard---increased by 5.2 percent.
You can read the entire study, illustrated with easy-to-understand graphics, here.