Sometimes one wonders what it will take to finally get people to stop driving drunk.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reports that almost 30 people in America die every day in crashes involving an alcohol-impaired driver.
This is roughly equivalent to one death every hour.
Yet people still insist on getting behind the wheel after having a drink or four. It is tempting to stop being polite and flatly state how absolutely foolish such behavior is. Sadly, though, people no longer seem to listen to such things.
The only alternative, then, is the implementation of far harsher criminal penalties for driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
If talk alone will not get the message across, maybe stiffer punishments will cut down on the needless deaths and injuries, like the ones that occurred last month when two women died and four others were injured in a Virginia crash.
Six people were drunkenly barreling down Route 629 in a small car when they rolled through a stop sign, driving into and underneath a tractor-trailer traveling south on Route 301.
One of the six, a 20-year-old woman, died immediately at the scene of the accident. She was squeezed in to the middle of the back seat, without a seatbelt. The 19-year-old girl who was next to her, also not wearing a seatbelt, later died in a local hospital.
The car’s driver, a 21-year-old man, suffered life-threatening injuries as well, and criminal charges are pending against him.
I Was Injured in a Car Accident and I Need a Virginia Drunk Driving Lawyer
Luckily, the driver of the truck was not injured. Many people, however, are not as lucky when their vehicle is plowed into by a drunk driver. If you are mature enough to plan to go out and have drinks, you need to be mature enough to make a plan for how you are going to get home. Designate a driver, arrange a taxi service or find someplace you can walk to after the party ends.
If you or someone you love has been the victim of a drunk driver, it is imperative that you take legal action. In addition to getting the financial assistance you will need to deal with the fallout from the injury, a lawsuit sets a strong precedent for future cases. Call us today for a free consultation about your situation.
Koonz’s Did You Know: According to Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), on average, a drunk driver has driven drunk 80 times before his or her first arrest.
Koonz, McKenney, Johnson & DePaolis L.L.P.
Maryland, Washington, D.C. and Virginia Injury Attorneys
Source: http://hamptonroads.com/2014/06/2-women-dead-after-crash-involving-tractortrailer-va