The Problem :

Alcohol is involved in 40-percent of all fatal traffic crashes in the state, making alcohol-related traffic deaths the single largest component of all New Mexico traffic fatalities. Preliminary figures for 2007 show a decline in alcohol-related fatalities in New Mexico. If the numbers hold, New Mexico will mark three consecutive years of declines in alcohol-related automobile fatalities. New Mexico has seen an additional decline in alcohol-related injury crashes and overall alcohol-related crashes. Alcohol-related injury crashes in New Mexico declined from 1,588 in 2004 to 1,267 in 2005, while alcohol-related crashes in the state dropped from 3,336 in 2004 to 2,755 in 2005.