Laserfiche WebLink
Guidepost <br /> Alcohol & Drugs <br /> Analysis of the studied crashes indicates that drivers who chose to use drugs or alcohol before driving were nearly <br /> 3.5 times more likely to be involved in a severe crash. Illinois does not have a hard definition of impaired driving.The <br /> legal limit for blood alcohol level (BAC) is 0.08%, but drivers can be considered impaired even if their BAC is lower <br /> than the legal limit. A driver can be considered impaired if there is any amount of cannabis or other drugs in the <br /> driver's system and the officer believes that the driver's ability to operate their vehicle is reduced. Impaired drivers <br /> were responsible for 408 crashes, accounting for 5%of the total. Of these,48 resulted in severe outcomes, including <br /> 11 fatalities, representing nearly half of all fatal crashes. <br /> After comparing the City of Decatur with five other comparable cities it was found that there is a disproportionate <br /> volume of crashes involving drugs and alcohol within the City of Decatur. Four cities in Illinois (Danville, Rock Island, <br /> Peoria, and Rockford) were chosen for comparison based upon similar class, race, median household income, and <br /> poverty rates while varying in population and size(see Appendix . Danville,while a bit of an outlier in some of these <br /> categories,was requested to be included by the City as it is also a smaller town in southern Illinois. The City of Racine, <br /> Wisconsin was chosen for comparison as a sensitivity analysis due to its similar population factors while also <br /> consistently ranking as one of the "drunkest cities" in the United States. Around a quarter of adults in the City of <br /> Racine report that they frequently indulge in excessive or binge drinking. <br /> The crash data was compared on a rate basis looking at the percent of total crashes involving alcohol and drugs and <br /> how severe those crashes were. This overall rate does not paint the whole picture however, it does not account for <br /> how much the population of a city drives, how large the population is, or how dense the population is. Larger <br /> population sizes can skew the data due to there being on average more crashes and thus more opportunities for fatal <br /> or severe crashes.The population of a city may also travel in vehicles at a much higher or lower rate than average and <br /> that could also skew the data.To account for these other factors three categories were identified including,population <br /> size, vehicle miles travelled, and population density to account for the difference between the cities. Unfortunately, <br /> Wisconsin does not report vehicle miles travelled on a city basis,so the City of Racine could only be compared based <br /> on crashes per population density and crashes per population. The background data and overall crash rate can be <br /> seen below in and . <br /> TABLE 1 - BACKGROUND DATA <br /> City **Populatio *5YHMVMT Size (Square Miles) Density (Thousand <br /> n (Thousand People/Square Miles <br /> people) <br /> Decatur 69.1 35.2 46.0 1.5 <br /> Peoria 113.1 115.7 50.6 2.2 <br /> Rock Island 37.3 58.7 17.9 2.1 <br /> Rockford 148.0 141.3 62.0 2.4 <br /> Danville 29.1 19.7 18.0 1.6 <br /> Racine 77.8 ***N/A 18.7 4.2 <br /> *5 Year Hundred Million Vehicle Miles Traveled (2022 Data Multiplied by 5) <br /> **2025 Census <br /> ***No City Vehicle Miles Traveled Data Available in Wisconsin, it is only counted by county <br /> Icapur Page 20 of 81 <br />