National DUI's Up 4%

DRUNK-DRIVING DEATHS ROSE 4 PERCENT IN 1995

By: Mercury News Wire Services

Highway-safety experts say myriad factors could have contributed to the first nationwide increase in drunken-driving deaths in a decade, including public complacency, an increase in the number of young drivers and higher speed limits. The 1995 toll of 17,274 alcohol-related traffic deaths was a 4 percent increase over 1994 figures, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Traffic deaths also increased last year, to 41,798 from 40,716 in 1994. Drunken-driving deaths had been steadily decreasing since 1986.

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