Although in most jurisdictions, drinking and driving is now considered a serious offense, people continue to get behind the wheel after drinking. Often, drivers don't realize just how impaired they are when they take the steering wheel, put the key in the ignition and start the engine.

Although the legal limit of blood alcohol concentration throughout North America is 0.08 percent, many people don't realize that the effects of alcohol only take minutes to begin impairing judgement. Perhaps this is a vicious cycle - impairment of judgement begins shortly after the first drink and gets to the point where many who are impaired don't have the ability to judge how drunk they may be or how many drinks they have actually had.

The facts regarding alcohol related deaths on our roads should be enough to sober up the judgement of the would be driver that's had a few social drinks too many. Just how many people die every day from drunk driving?

In the United States during 2008, there were a total of 37,261 traffic related deaths, of which 13,846 were alcohol related. That's a whopping 37 percent of all traffic fatalities being caused by impaired driving. There were 366 days in 2008 (Leap Year) which means on average, 38 people everyday in the United States lost their lives due to drunk driving.

The State of Texas has the dubious distinction of most people killed as a result of drunk driving in 2008: 1,463.

In Canada, which has a much smaller population than the US, the latest information suggests that of the 3,045 individuals killed in traffic accidents in 2007, 1,239 were the result of drunk driving. On average, that is almost 4 people per day.

In North America, 42 people every single day lose their lives due to drinking and driving!

What about the rest of the world? We don't have statistics for every country but as an example, a country of about 6 million people, the Republic of Ireland, lost 2,462 people due to impaired driving between 1990 and 2006. During 2007, the United Kingdom lost 460 residents as the result of someone taking the wheel with alcohol in their bloodstream.

Just how many people are killed everyday because of drunk driving? We don't know for sure but to add them all up throughout the world would be staggering.

You can find out if you are above the legal limit for alcohol in your blood before you decide to drive. Read my story about crashing into a house and discover how you can prevent your own impaired driving that might cause death to yourself, your loved ones, and others. Find out how you can prevent impaired driving.