While drunken driving car accident fatalities have declined in recent years, intoxicated driver continue to claim the lives of approximately 30, 000 vehicle occupants annually while causing serious injury to millions more. The state and federal government have devoted enormous resources to preventing drunken driving in the form of increased patrols, sobriety checkpoints, tougher DUI penalties, public awareness programs, teen “zero tolerance laws” and wider implementation of breath alcohol ignition interlock devices.
Despite this enormous commitment of resources to reduce the risk of alcohol related accidents, families throughout Missouri and the U.S. have their lives changed every day by drunken drivers. It may be tempting to presume that your chances of becoming the victim of a drunk driver are remote. However, you should consider that if you live in a household of 6 people, statistically two family members will be involved in a collision with a drunk driver at some point during their life according to data from the Loyola University Health System. There are approximately 600,000 collisions a year in which alcohol is a factor, which constitutes approximately ten percent of all traffic collisions.
Drivers who are intoxicated present a substantial risk of causing a collision which results in serious personal injury or wrongful death. Alcohol impaired drivers often compound limitations on reflexes, decision-making and perception with unrealistic estimates of their own driving ability. Drivers with this over-inflated sense of their own driving abilities may speed, tailgate, multi-task and otherwise take unacceptable driving risks.
If you are involved in a collision with a driver you suspect is intoxicated, you should indicate to the investigating officer that you think the other driver may have been drinking as well as why you reached that conclusion. This may be based on your personal observations of the other driver including the odor of alcohol on the driver’s breath, slurred speech, lack of coordination, red bloodshot eyes or other effects from alcohol. While the officer may conduct a DUI investigation without your prompting, your eyewitness testimony may provide evidence justifying field sobriety tests and blood alcohol testing.
When you are involved in a collision caused by a drunken driver, you may also be entitled to punitive damages. Punitive damages are intended to punish reckless drivers and discourage similar unsafe driving practices in the future. If you or someone you love is injured or a family member dies in a drunken driving accident in Missouri, the experienced Missouri drunken driving accident attorneys at Hubbard & Kurtz, LLP are committed to holding alcohol impaired drivers accountable for the injuries that they cause so contact us toll free at (877) 535-1163 to see how we can help!