The NHTSA will coordinate with law enforcement agencies across the country to conduct high-profile police enforcement against alcohol-impaired drivers as part of a campaign called “Drunk Driving. Over the Limit. Under Arrest.” The NHTSA will also conduct $13 million in advertising and public awareness announcing the crackdown and will work with various anti-drinking and driving community activist groups.

The campaign’s ubiquitous commercials are a familiar site to most television watchers, featuring police officers stopping cars filled with alcohol-looking liquid, complete with floating cherries, suds and ice cubes.

The NHTSA estimates that in 2007, 12,998 people died as a result of alcohol-impaired traffic accidents where at least one driver had a blood alcohol content level of .08 or higher, which is illegal in all states. In 2008 that number fell to 11,773, a nearly 10% drop, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Maryland drunk driving accidents dropped 15% drop from 2007 to 2008.

More Information: CDC Notice about National Labor Day Drunk Driving Enforcement Crackdown

The complaint was filed against Candy Lynn Baldwin, the 19-year old woman who was driving the 1997 Chevrolet Camaro that caused the accident. However, the Baltimore Sun also reports that the family has placed the Maryland Transportation Authority on notice of their intention to file a claim under the Maryland Tort Claims Act for the failure of the bridge to prevent the truck from falling off of the bridge, as an investigation found that the metal bars holding the concrete barriers had eroded prior to the crash.

The Maryland truck accident lawsuit was filed in Queen Anne’s County Circuit Court. According to the Sun:

The suit states that Short swerved to avoid a head-on collision but was sideswiped by the Camaro and slid across the bridge and through the concrete barrier. The tractor trailer fell about 30 feet into the Chesapeake Bay, and Short drowned in the cab of his vehicle.

Short’s truck was the first vehicle to crash through one of the safety barriers in the 56-year history of the bridge.

A study performed at the University of Alabama and Harvard Medical School found that the price of gas has a direct impact on the number of fatal traffic crashes each month. Researchers examined fatal traffic accident statistics collected by the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) from 1985 to 2006. Economists extrapolated the link between rising gas prices and decreasing traffic deaths based on data already associated with falling gas prices.

The data indicated that fatalities are reduced by 2.3 percent for every 10% rise in gas prices, and the effects are even more dramatic for teen drivers. According to the Maryland Department of Transportation, State Highway Adminiatration, on average, more than 630 people die each year in fatal Maryland traffic accidents. So that means nearly 15 Maryland accident deaths could be avoided by a 10% increase in gas prices.

The results of the study were presented at a meeting of health economists in North Carolina last month. While the researchers certainly are not suggesting that increasing gas prices is the best way to deal with traffic fatalities, they did find that higher gas prices were much more effective at saving lives than the enactment of other measures, such as lowering the limits of permitted blood alcohol levels and mandatory seat belt laws. However, researchers did find that restrictive license measures lowered road accident fatalities by 24% nationwide for drivers between 15 and 17 years old.

The reality is that high gas prices cause people to drive slower and less often, which common sense indicates will lead to a reduction in the number of serious accidents that could result in death.