One In Four Corvette Drivers In Fatal Crashes Is Impaired. It Gets Worse From There.

The Chevrolet Corvette is America’s dream car. It’s also apparently America’s drink-and-drive car. NHTSA fatality data reveals that 26.2% of Corvette drivers involved in fatal crashes tested positive for alcohol or drugs — the highest impairment rate of any major sports car, and one of the highest of any vehicle on the road.

For context, the Ford Mustang — a car whose entire cultural identity revolves around “leaving Cars & Coffee into a crowd” — clocks in at 21.9%. The Camaro sits at 23.0%. The Dodge Challenger, the car that literally murdered a tire brand, manages 22.5%. The Corvette beats them all.

But here’s the kicker: the Corvette’s actual death rate (1.52 per 100M VMT) is relatively modest compared to the Mustang’s catastrophic 6.02. This means Corvette drivers are proportionally more hammered but die less often — possibly because the car costs $65,000+ and has better crash structures than a 22-year-old’s used Mustang GT. Money buys safety, even from yourself.

At the very top of the impairment leaderboard? The Buick Park Avenue at 31.7% — nearly one in three. Your grandpa’s land yacht is statistically the most impaired vehicle in America. One imagines the cocktails at the country club hitting different on the drive home.