Impaired-Driving Crashes and OWI Arrests in West Michigan Counties

In 2025, alcohol- or drug-involved crashes made up between 3.7 and 4.8 percent of reported crashes in the eight West Michigan counties shown below, and between 2 and 17 fatal crashes per county. Kent County, the largest, had 771 such crashes, including 17 fatal ones.^{[1][8][9][10]} The figures come from two official State Police sources, Michigan Traffic Crash Facts county profiles and the annual Michigan Drunk Driving Audit, which count different things.^[11][12]

How to read these numbers

• A crash counts as alcohol-involved if the officer reported any driver, pedestrian or cyclist as "had-been-drinking," and as drug-involved if the officer reported someone as suspected of drug use. The county tables combine the two ("alcohol or drugs").^[6][7]
• A crash is reportable if it involves a death, an injury or $1,000 or more in property damage.^[13]
• The Drunk Driving Audit's arrest figures come from breath-test reports officers file at the time of a drunk-driving arrest, and the State Police caution against comparing them with other arrest data.^[14]
• Implied-consent suspensions in the audit are listed for residents of each county.^[15]

Crashes involving alcohol or drugs, by county (2025 and 2024)

County	2025: crashes involving alcohol or drugs	2025: fatal crashes involving alcohol or drugs	2024 comparison
Kent	771 of 19,214 (4.0%)	17 of 56	746 crashes; 24 of 62 fatal.[1]
Ottawa	315 of 8,187 (3.8%)	13 of 27 (5-year high)	258 crashes; 4 fatal.[2]
Muskegon	232 of 4,826 (4.8%, 5-year high)	12 of 25	210 crashes; 11 of 19 fatal.[9]
Allegan	185 of 4,212 (4.4%); 185 crashes is a 5-year high	9 of 16	178 crashes; 13 of 18 fatal.[16]
Montcalm	75 of 1,805 (4.2%)	2 of 10 (5-year low)	76 crashes; 8 of 14 fatal.[10]
Ionia	74 of 1,983 (3.7%)	6 of 13	65 crashes; 2 of 7 fatal.[8]
Barry	68 of 1,619 (4.2%)	3 of 7	64 crashes; 7 of 10 fatal.[17]
Newaygo	58 of 1,511 (3.8%)	3 of 6	61 crashes; 9 of 13 fatal.[18]

Source: Michigan Traffic Crash Facts 2025 county profiles, table "5-Year Trend – Crashes Involving Alcohol or Drugs." The "5-year" notes refer to 2021 to 2025.^[1][2]

People killed in crashes involving alcohol, 2025

The Drunk Driving Audit counts people, not crashes. Its figures below add together deaths in alcohol-only crashes and in crashes involving both alcohol and drugs.

County	People killed in crashes involving alcohol	All traffic deaths
Kent	16 (12 alcohol only, 4 alcohol and drugs); 1 more in a drug-only crash	58[19]
Muskegon	9	26[20]
Ottawa	8	27[20]
Allegan	8	20[20]
Ionia	4	14[20]
Barry	2	7[20]
Montcalm	2	10[20]
Newaygo	1	6[20]

In Kent County, 384 people were injured in 2025 in crashes involving alcohol and/or drugs.^[19]

OWI arrests and refusal suspensions, by county (2025)

County	Recorded OWI arrests	OUIL-category arrests	Implied-consent suspensions of residents
Kent	1,581	1,525	258[3]
Ottawa	665	644	79[4]
Allegan	529	499	74[5]
Muskegon	489	468	60[5]
Montcalm	159	149	16[21]
Newaygo	131	128	32[21]
Ionia	123	111	22[21]
Barry	119	115	18[5]

The audit's "OUIL" category combines arrests for being under the influence of liquor, unlawful bodily alcohol content (.08 or more), driving under the influence of drugs, and high BAC.^[22] Kent County's 2025 arrests also included 13 for operating while impaired, 16 under-21 arrests, 14 for a drug offense in a death or injury crash, 9 child-endangerment arrests, 3 serious-injury and 1 death-crash arrest.^[3] Ottawa County's included 13 child-endangerment arrests.^[4]

The suspension column counts residents of the county whose licenses were suspended for refusing a chemical test.^[15] Statewide, 3,932 residents were suspended for refusals in 2025.^[23]

Cautions when using county figures

• Small numbers move a lot. Barry County went from 7 of 10 fatal crashes involving alcohol or drugs in 2024 to 3 of 7 in 2025; Montcalm from 8 of 14 to 2 of 10.^[17][10] A one-year change in a small county is not by itself a trend.
• Crashes are not people. Michigan Traffic Crash Facts counts fatal crashes; the audit counts people killed, and splits alcohol from drugs. Kent's 17 fatal crashes involving alcohol or drugs and its 16 deaths in crashes involving alcohol are different measures.^[1][19]
• Arrests are not convictions. The audit's county conviction figures are residents' convictions from Secretary of State records; they are not tied to the county of arrest, and some may come from prior-year arrests.^[24]
• Statewide context. Statewide, 264 people died in alcohol-involved crashes in 2025, and 24,690 OWI arrests were recorded.^[25][26] See Michigan drunk-driving statistics.

Where the data come from and when they are updated

Michigan Traffic Crash Facts is prepared by the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute with funding from the Office of Highway Safety Planning and NHTSA; new data are added each year when the State Police release the previous year's official closed crash dataset, and the query tool covers 2004 to 2025.^[11] The Drunk Driving Audit is required by MCL 257.625i, must contain county-by-county information for the previous calendar year, and is due to the Governor, the Legislature and the Secretary of State on July 1 each year.^[12] For readers who want statewide data beyond what is shown here, the State Police now publish it through the Michigan Traffic Crash Dashboard.^[27]

Courts and help in these counties

Every adult criminal case, including felony OWI, starts in the local district court, which handles misdemeanors through sentencing; a felony moves to the circuit court once it is bound over.^[28][29] Addresses and phone numbers are in West Michigan courts that hear OWI cases, and the local sobriety-court programs are listed in sobriety and DWI courts in West Michigan. People injured in a crash, and their families, can start with rights of people injured by impaired drivers and crime victim compensation; other organizations are listed in the OWI help and resources directory.

Questions about the audit's crash and arrest data go to the State Police Traffic Crash Reporting Unit at 517-241-1699; questions about its conviction data go to the Michigan Department of State at 517-322-1598.^[30]