The alcohol related deaths via traffic accidents certainly gathers the most interest in the newspapers and on the nightly news, but I wonder if these incidents comprise the majority of alcohol related fatalities in the U.S.  If this statement were made to most people, I would imagine that most of them would be hard-pressed to come up with other alcohol related deaths that would rival the number of alcohol related traffic fatalities each year. 

Then I started to think about the multitude of alcohol related diseases, medical conditions, and illnesses that directly or indirectly lead to the lose of life.  Just think about the number of people who die each year due to alcohol related cancer, strokes, pancreatitis, ulcers, and liver disease.  The point: the number of people who die each year in the U.S. from alcohol related causes far surpasses the number people in this country who die from alcohol related traffic accidents.