CDC: Illinois Ranks High in DUIs, Though Incidents Are Decreasing

Illinois drivers are more likely than the national average to drive under the influence of alcohol, but DUI numbers across the country are decreasing.

On Tuesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released 2010 statistics relating to a survey about DUIs. According to the survey, an estimated 4 million adult respondents said they drove drunk at least once last year, averaging out to about 479 episodes for a population of 1,000.

Those numbers are down about 30 percent from a peak in 2006, though, and that decrease has been seen locally as well, according to police blotter reports.

Illinois ranked above the average, with 513 DUI incidents per 1,000 people. That ranks 17th among all 50 states, with North Dakota adults reporting the most incidents at 988 per 1,000 people.

READ more about the CDC survey on 2010 DUI incidents.

In New Lenox, DUI arrests are down in 2011. Through August 2011 there are 41 arrests for driving under the influence of alcohol by the (which doesn't include statistics from the Will County Sheriff's Department). That number is down from the same time period last year, in which 53 people had been arrested on drunken driving charges.

There were 86 total DUI arrests by New Lenox police in 2010, which . According to police blotter reports, the overwhelming majority of DUI arrests this year were made after midnight.

The Will County Sheriff's Department has made 14 DUI arrests in New Lenox through August, and nine of those followed a car accident in which the driver was accused of drinking.

Last month, the Sheriff's Department received a grant to increase its late-night .