Recently, a nine-year-old girl lost her life when a drunk driver hit the vehicle in which she was riding. The girl’s mother sustained a broken shoulder and collapsed lung as a result of the collision. The 41-year-old man who collided with the SUV was arrested and faced charges of murder, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and DWI.
When the man was arrested at the scene of the accident, he informed police that he had consumed three beers prior to getting into his vehicle to drive home.
Despite the efforts of drunk driving campaigns, drinking and driving remains one of the leading causes of death in the United States. According to the most recent statistics available for Texas alone, there were 1,296 deaths as a result of impaired driving in 2012, with 169 of those deaths classified as alcohol-impaired fatalities.
Drinking and driving never has a good ending. Statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention clearly demonstrate that. On a daily basis, nearly 30 Americans die in car accidents involving a drunk driver – a death every 51 minutes. The cost of crashes of this nature runs to more than $59 billion annually.
Drinking and driving killed 10,322 Americans in 2012, a figure that represents nearly 31 percent of all traffic deaths in the nation. The problem plagues every state. Laws take some of the offenders off the road, but other laws put those offenders right back on it. Effectively keeping tabs on serial drunk drivers is almost impossible. Jail time and sobriety programs may work in some cases, but ultimately, as Alcoholic Anonymous states, alcoholics only go for help when they themselves recognize that they have a problem.
Lee, Gober and Reyna – If you need a personal injury lawyer or help with an auto accident, motorcycle accident, wrongful death, or burn injury case, contact Lee, Gober and Reyna by visiting http://www.lgrlawfirm.com or calling 512.800.8000
