New research suggests that raising alcohol taxes could prevent thousands of deaths a year from car crashes, according to a recent study.

Researchers at the University of Florida found that alcohol-related motor vehicle accidents decreased after taxes on beer, wine and spirits went up in Illinois. Fatal alcohol-related car crashes in Illinois declined 26 percent after a 2009 increase in alcohol tax. The decrease was even more marked for young people, at 37 percent.

The reduction was similar for crashes involving alcohol-impaired drivers and extremely drunken drivers, at 22 and 25 percent, respectively.

"Similar alcohol tax increases implemented across the country could prevent thousands of deaths from car crashes each year," Alexander C. Wagenaar, a professor in the department of health outcomes and policy at the UF College of Medicine, said in a statement. "If policymakers are looking to address dangerous drivers on our roads and reduce the number of fatalities, they should reverse the trend of allowing inflation to erode alcohol taxes."

Alcohol-related motor vehicle crashes account for almost 10,000 deaths and half a million injuries every year in the United States. Alcohol is more affordable than ever, a factor researchers believe has contributed to Americans' widespread drinking and driving.

Researchers estimate that drinking more than 10 drinks per day would have cost the average person about half of his or her disposable income in 1950 compared with only 3 percent in 2011. Alcoholic beverages have become so inexpensive because alcohol tax rates have declined substantially, after taking inflation into account.

In August 2009, Illinois raised its excise tax on beer by 4.6 cents per gallon, on wine by 66 cents per gallon and on distilled spirits by $4.05 per gallon. Assuming the entirety of the taxation cost is passed on to the consumer, that would result in a .4 cent increase per glass of beer, a .5 cent increase per glass of wine and a 4.8 cent increase per single serving of spirits.

For the study, researchers collected and analyzed detailed records of fatal crashes from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration from January 2001 to December 2011. They looked at the 104 months before the tax was enacted and the 28 months after it was enacted to see whether the effects of the tax change differed according to a driver's age, gender, race and blood alcohol concentration at the time of a fatal motor vehicle crash.

Their findings confirmed that the decrease in crashes was due to the tax change, not other factors.

"What is unique [about this study] is that we identified that alcohol taxes do in fact impact the whole range of drinking drivers, including extremely drunk drivers," Wagenaar said. "This goes against the conventional wisdom of many economists, who assert that heavy drinkers are less responsive to tax changes, and has powerful implications for how we can keep our communities safer."

The findings are detailed in the American Journal of Public Health.