Drunk driving is a preventable yet widespread source of car accidents in the United States. As a Philadelphia drunk driving accident lawyer, I have seen firsthand how Pennsylvanians are affected by this problem. There are plenty of statistics showing what a common and serious issue this is, with PennDOT attributing 345 fatalities to DUI crashes in 2015 alone. DUI accidents can occur anywhere at any time, but crash data shows that your risk of being hit by a drunk driver depends largely on where you live. In this article, I’ll take a look at recently published PennDOT data to reveal which Pennsylvania counties have the most auto accidents caused by intoxicated drivers. Hopefully, you won’t see your county anywhere near the top of the list.
Which Pennsylvania Counties Have the Most Car Crashes Caused by Drunk Driving?
PennDOT publishes annual reports containing facts and figures about car accidents throughout Pennsylvania. These reports create a detailed image of where, when, and why accidents occur, including accidents caused by intoxicated driving.
According to the 2015 PennDOT report, which is the most recent version available as of September 2016, there were 127,127 vehicular accidents in 2015. These accidents resulted in precisely 1,200 deaths, 345 of which resulted from crashes involving alcohol. In other words, alcohol was a cause or contributing factor in 28.75% of accident fatalities in Pennsylvania last year.
That number is disproportionately high to an extreme degree, because intoxicated drivers made up only 5% of all drivers who were involved in crashes (10,336 out of 207,013) – nowhere near close to 28.75%. The PennDOT report describes alcohol use, imprecisely but accurately, as a “big contributor” to deadly accidents.
More precise are PennDOT’s figures on where alcohol-related accident fatalities occurred. The data reveals that virtually every county in Pennsylvania reported at least one traffic accident death related to alcohol or driver intoxication, with only a handful of exceptions. At the opposite end of the spectrum, the county with the highest number of drunk driving-related fatalities reported well over two dozen deaths.
Every county in Pennsylvania is listed below, grouped according to the total number of drunk driving-related fatalities that occurred in 2015. The top 10 counties are ranked at the end of the list.
- Counties with No Alcohol-Related Fatalities
- Beaver County
- Cameron County
- Elk County
- Forest County
- Mifflin County
- Potter County
- Venango County
- Warren County
- Counties with 1 Alcohol-Related Fatality
- Clarion County
- Fulton County
- Lebanon County
- Mercer County
- Montour County
- Northumberland County
- Perry County
- Sullivan County
- Tioga County
- Wyoming County
- Counties with 2 Alcohol-Related Fatalities
- Adams County
- Bedford County
- Cambria County
- Carbon County
- Crawford County
- Cumberland County
- Franklin County
- Greene County
- Huntingdon County
- Lawrence County
- McKean County
- Susquehanna County
- Union County
- Counties with 3 Alcohol-Related Fatalities
- Butler County
- Clinton County
- Juniata County
- Somerset County
- Counties with 4 Alcohol-Related Fatalities
- Armstrong County
- Columbia County
- Jefferson County
- Pike County
- Schuylkill County
- Snyder County
- Wayne County
- Counties with 5 Alcohol-Related Fatalities
- Fayette County
- Lackawanna County
- Lycoming County
- Counties with 6 Alcohol-Related Fatalities
- Dauphin County
- Erie County
- Monroe County
- Montgomery County
- Counties with 7 Alcohol-Related Fatalities
- Bradford County
- Delaware County
- Counties with 8 Alcohol-Related Fatalities
- Blair County
- Counties with 9 Alcohol-Related Fatalities
- Clearfield County
- Indiana County
- Washington County
- Counties with 10 Alcohol-Related Fatalities
- Northampton County
That leaves only the top 10 counties in Pennsylvania with the highest number of drunk driving fatalities. Where counties were tied in 2015, ranking was determined by each county’s total fatalities during 2014, which are noted on the list where applicable.
- Allegheny County – 11 fatalities
- Bucks County – 13 fatalities
- Berks County – 14 fatalities (6 in 2014)
- Lehigh County – 14 fatalities (7 in 2014)
- Chester County – 15 fatalities
- Westmoreland County – 16 fatalities (7 in 2014)
- Lancaster County – 16 fatalities (17 in 2014)
- York County – 17 fatalities
- Luzerne County – 18 fatalities
- Philadelphia County – 31 fatalities
Hit by a Drunk Driver in PA? Call a Philadelphia Car Accident Lawyer for Help
If you or one of your family members was hit by a drunk driver in Philadelphia County, Luzerne County, York County, or elsewhere in Pennsylvania, you may be able to get compensated for your medical bills and other losses. An experienced Philadelphia car accident injury lawyer like Brent Wieand can help.
To set up a free and confidential legal consultation with Brent, call the Wieand Law Firm, LLC at (888) 789-3161 as soon as possible. Though based in Philadelphia, Brent handles drunk driving injury claims throughout the state of Pennsylvania.
*Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes. It is not legal advice and should not be used as legal advice. The Wieand Law Firm, LLC is based in Philadelphia, PA, and proud to serve clients throughout Pennsylvania and New Jersey.*
