DRUNK DRIVING ACCIDENT LAWYER
SAN DIEGO & ALL OF CALIFORNIA

Last year in the United States, thousands of people died in accidents due to drunk driving. The latest accident statistics show that of the total fatalities that year, thirty nine percent of them were alcohol related.  This alarming trend toward drinking and driving puts other drivers on the road at risk.

Sadly, many of those who have victimized others with their drunk driving are repeat offenders.  These people have often caused damage to property or injury to innocent victims before.  Many struggle with alcohol addiction, and have no regard for the other drivers, passengers, and pedestrians they put at risk by their negligence when choosing to drive while under the influence of alcohol or other substances. 

What does this mean to the victims of someone whose negligence caused them injury or whose loved one was killed (in the case of a wrongful death suit) by a drunk driver?  The answer is that the person convicted of DUI is responsible for all damages he or she inflicted.  Those who provided the alcohol may also share some responsibility in the liability, depending upon the circumstances.  A bar or even a social host may be considered partly responsible, for example, if they continued to serve someone alcohol who was obviously drunk.

The statistics relating to drunk driving are incredible.  They show that every 30 minutes, someone in this country dies in an alcohol-related crash, and that every 2 minutes, someone is injured in an alcohol-related accident. 

The latest completed statistics we have are for the year 2004.  These reveal the following information:

• There were 16,694 alcohol-related accidents in 2004.  What this means is that it may not have been the driver who was using alcohol, it may have been the pedestrian or a cyclist, so at first glance the number seems a bit misleading, but read on.

• In 2004, 85 percent (11,791) of the 13,952 drivers with BAC (blood alcohol level) of .01 or higher who were involved in fatal crashes had BAC levels at or above .08, and 51 percent (7,084) had BAC levels at or above .16. The most frequently recorded BAC level among drinking drivers involved in fatal crashes was .18.

• The percentages of drivers with BAC levels of .08 or higher in fatal crashes in 2004 were 27% for motorcycle operators, 22% for passenger cars, and 21% for light trucks. The percentage of drivers with BAC levels .08 or higher in fatal crashes was the lowest for large trucks (1%).
• The highest percentage of drivers in fatal crashes who had BAC levels of .08 or higher was for males and drivers ages 21 to 24.

• In 2004, 21 percent of the children age 14 and younger who were killed in motor vehicle crashes were killed in alcohol-related crashes.

• An estimated 248,000 people were injured in crashes where police reported that alcohol was present — an average of one person injured approximately every 2 minutes.

• The rate of alcohol involvement in fatal crashes is more than 3 times higher at night than during the day (60% vs. 18%).

• The state of California had the highest number of fatalities in the United States (4,120) with 1,643 of those being alcohol related (40%).  Texas was second and the state of Florida was third in the U.S. for alcohol related fatalities.