Alcohol- and drug-related traffic fatalities in the region dropped for a second year in a row, but juvenile deaths due to alcohol- and drug-related crashes in the region increased, according to a report by the Washington Regional Alcohol Program.

The report “How Safe are Our Roads?” said alcohol- and drug-related fatal crashes dropped 19 percent between 2005 and 2004 in the D.C. metro area, with 86 fatal crashes compared to 110. Crashes attributed to alcohol and drugs decreased by 9 percent between 2004 and 2005, according to the report.

Thirteen juveniles died in 2005 due to alcohol- or drug-related crashes, compared to 10 fatalities the year before. More than 26 percent of juvenile fatalities in 2005 — including incidents in which juveniles who were driving, passengers and/or pedestrians — were alcohol-related, according to the report.

Arrests in the region for driving under the influence or driving while intoxicated rose less than 2 percent from 6,864 arrests in 2004 to 6,950 in 2005.

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Some 300 drivers are arrested each week for an alcohol-related offense, said David Robertson, executive director of the Washington Metropolitan Council of Governments, which prepared the WRAP report.

“The latest trends appear to be the dividends of both increased public attention to the matter and, in tandem, increased law enforcement efforts,” WRAP president Kurt Erickson said.

“I don’t think people realize how deadly it is and how easily they can fall into the trap of being over the legal BAC [blood alcohol content level],” said John Townsend, a AAA Mid-Atlantic spokesman, who warned the Thanksgiving holiday weekend is not just about eating. “When you have more people on the road, the greater the probability of being involved in a crash.”

cgoodman@dcexaminer.com