Increasing state alcohol taxes could prevent thousands of deaths a year from car accidents, said researchers.
A new study shows that after taxes on beer, wine, and spirits went up in Illinois in 2009, fatal alcohol-related motor vehicle crashes declined 26 percent. The decrease was even more marked for young people, at 37 percent. Crashes involving alcohol-impaired drivers and extremely drunken drivers had similar declines at 22 and 25 percent, respectively.
