BE AWARE OF THE DUI CONSEQUENCES
Imagine your loved one going on a night out with their friends.
It all seemed fairly casual and nothing out of the ordinary. They told you they were going to hit a couple of bars downtown just to catch up. They did their due diligence by ordering an Uber to get there because none of them wanted to drive inebriated, and they also usually refrain from drinking too much in public settings. On the surface, the odds of them getting home safely seemed to be in their favor.
Until it wasn’t.
Later in the night, they got into an accident when they ordered a Lyft back home. Apparently, a drunk driver was loose on the road. His cognitive functions and decision-making skills were compromised, and he ended up crashing into the Lyft your loved one and their friends rode in.
The drunk driver was reportedly unscathed after the fact, but the same cannot be said for your loved one and their friends.
They were wheeled into the hospital in critical condition. The medical team did everything in their power to help alleviate the condition of those affected by the accident. All hands were on deck. Amidst the chaos in the emergency room, all nurses, doctors, and the rest of the medical team were scrambling to keep them from flatlining.
To no avail.
Meanwhile, you slept peacefully through the night, without suspicion that a tragic news is about to greet you in the morning.
Now imagine that you were the drunk driver in this situation. Would you be able to live with yourself knowing that you caused that kind of pain to a person’s family? That your recklessness single handedly caused the death of a living, breathing human being?
Despite its severe legal and personal consequences, people still feel compelled to drive under the influence. This blog aims to educate people on the serious issue of drunk driving. By the end of this blog, we hope that readers develop a deeper understanding of this issue and why it’s important to practice techniques and instill habits that are conducive to driving safely.
What is drunk driving?
In simple terms, drunk driving is when you get behind the wheel still feeling woozy after you ingested alcohol. But its legal and technical terms may give more insight as to what exactly constitutes “drunk driving.” For that, we turn to the stipulations made by the Department of Motor Vehicles.
The significance of blood alcohol concentration
Authority figures determine whether or not you are inebriated by measuring your blood alcohol concentration (BAC) through a blood test or a breathalyzer. Your BAC determines how much alcohol is in your bloodstream. Laws on drunk driving vary from state to state. In California, you have violated drunk driving laws…
- If you’re over drinking age (21 years old and above) driving with a BAC of 0.08% or higher.
- If you’re under drinking age (20 years old and below) driving with a BAC of 0.01% or higher.
- If you’re on DUI probation driving with a BAC of 0.01% or higher
- If you have a commercial driver’s license driving with a BAC of more than 0.04%
- If you are a licensed driver for hire with a BAC of more than 0.04%
DUI Statistics and Facts
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has stated that while over a million drunk driving arrests are made each year, they comprise only a small portion of inebriated drivers on the road. Looking at the self-reported alcohol-impaired driving episodes among US adults in the years 1993-2020, more than 100 million drivers have admitted to have driven while inebriated, although they suffer little to no legal consequences from their actions.
Aside from the legal repercussions of drunk driving, that is nothing compared to the grave danger it poses not only on you as a driver, but to other people on the road as well. Per the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, one person in the United States dies every 39 minutes on average from an alcohol-related crash. That’s about 37 people a day.
Not to mention, it seems as though we are experiencing a growing and worsening trend of traffic deaths linked to alcohol-impaired driving. Compared to the figures found in 2020, the nation has experienced an increase of 14% drunk driving deaths in the following year, with 13,384 people dead from alcohol-related fatalities.
Consequences of Driving Under The Influence
We must fight against drunk driving. Alcohol, no matter the amount, impedes our cognitive functions and could lead us to make poor driving decisions. Even a small amount of alcohol in our system is lethal. As a matter of fact, 2,266 people in 2021 were killed by drivers who had a BAC that fell within the .01 to .07 range. The emotional and financial repercussions imposed on the parties involved are astronomical and should be taken into consideration. Here are some of them:
- Financial Damages: If you’re drunk driving and you end up hitting another car in the process, you would have to possibly come up with the money to repair both your personal vehicle as well as the cars of the parties involved. You would also seek treatment for any injuries the parties involved may have acquired as a result of the accident.
- Catastrophic Injuries: Consider yourself lucky if you only have to worry about financial damages because accidents involving alcohol usually result in catastrophic injuries. It’s not uncommon for people involved to get severe injuries in the brain and spine.
- Traumatic Brain Injury: Depending on how bad the accident is, people involved in car accidents usually get a traumatic brain injury. This type of injury ranges from mild, moderate, to severe.
- Spinal Cord Injury: People often get injured in the spine when the driver who hit them is found to have driven under the influence. In dire cases, people affected may become paralyzed.
- Wrongful Death: Worst case scenario and unfortunately not uncommon, DUI accidents could result in the wrongful death of some or all parties involved.
Stop Drinking And Driving
Now that you are made aware of the legal and personal consequences of drinking and driving, we hope that you take into heart the lessons you have learned in this blog post. Reckless behavior of this nature is usually caused by personal reasons. It’s a demonstration of an utter disregard for oneself and also for others. Before you get on the road inebriated, please remember that drinking and driving doesn’t only affect you. It affects so many others as well: the victims, their loved ones, as well as yours.
To combat tendencies that you have to drive under the influence (if any), here are some things you can do:
- Sober Up: If you drive to an event where alcohol is involved, you will need to sober up before getting on the road. I know it’s tempting to want to drive home and rest up at the comfort of your own home, but remember: there will be an increased risk of you resting up in a hospital with shards of glass in your hair if you resort to driving under the influence. So instead of driving off, lower the incline of your car seat and wait until you’re sober enough to drive.
- Pace Yourself: If you know that you will have to drive home after being served an alcoholic drink, you will need to pace yourself. Be aware of your limits and listen to your body. Don’t underestimate the amount of alcohol you have taken so far. Chances are, your drunkenness will kick in later in the night. Make sure to allot time to sober up before driving home.
- Use Rideshare Services: Instead of driving to an event where alcohol is served, consider using rideshare services like Uber and Lyft. While the advice above are good rules to follow in general, you won’t have to adhere to them as closely if you plan on Ubering or Lyfting to the event and back home since you don’t have to drive.
Call Omega Law Group
You can do everything right to optimize safe driving, but like the CDC said, there are a lot more drivers out there who are driving under the influence undetected. This makes driving on the road extremely scary and dangerous. If you or a loved one are affected by a drunk driver, you will need to acquire the services of a DUI expert. You will need to call Omega Law Group. Our elite legal team of personal injury attorneys have acquired accolades from industry-vetted organizations like SuperLawyers and prestigious publications like the Los Angeles Business Journal — and for great reasons. With millions of dollars acquired on behalf of our clients, our attorneys are highly-skilled who empathize with the plight that victims of DUI are going through after the drunk driving accident. Schedule a free consultation now with one of our qualified DUI attorneys.