Nevada Singled Out for Increase in Fatal DUI Accidents Where Driver was Female
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration identified Nevada as one of ten states that showed an increase in the number of fatal DUI crashes last year where the driver was a woman. Nationwide, there was a 4.6% increase in the number of females arrested for driving under the influence between 2003 and 2007.
Even though females still make up less than twenty percent of drivers arrested for DUI in Nevada, resulting accidents therefore are usually more dangerous because women drivers tend to have more passengers, such as children: NHTSA reports that thirty-five percent of all alcohol-impaired female drivers have passengers.
If someone is arrested for DUI in Nevada with a child under fifteen, the state does enforce harsher penalties. The drivers may be charged with child endangerment in Nevada, a gross misdemeanor carrying up to a year in jail. And if there is no other family or guardians who can immediately take custody of the child, the child will usually be sent to Child Haven.
