Key Takeaways
Drunk driving consequences:
- Severe Injuries and Fatalities: Drunk driving leads to significant injuries and fatalities, affecting both drivers and innocent bystanders.
- Legal Penalties: DUI offenses can result in severe legal consequences, including license suspension, difficulty finding work, and imprisonment.
- Impaired Judgment: Alcohol and other substances impair judgment and reaction times, making it dangerous to drive under the influence.
- Impact on Young People: A significant number of alcohol-related accident victims are young adults, highlighting the tragic loss of life in this demographic.
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Drunk driving is dangerous driving. Everyone should be aware of this truism. However, every year, people get behind the wheel and drive drunk, leading to significant car accidents with severe penalties. Drunk driving can lead to severe injuries both for the person driving drunk and for other people on the road with them at the time. Many DUI accidents are fatal as well.
If you have been injured due to an alcohol-related crash, you need to work with a skilled and experienced Carson City auto accident attorney to represent your case. Getting the compensation you need to get back on your feet after your accident is key. We work hard for our clients to ensure that they can get the compensation they deserve after an alcohol-related accident.
The Aftermath of Alcohol-Related Crashes
There are many consequences of choosing to get drunk and drive. While there is some education about the aftermath of DUI-related accidents, most of the outreach about the consequences of this kind of choice is limited to ad campaigns and legal warnings.
Many people falsely believe that they are uniquely skilled at driving while under the influence of alcohol. This is because alcohol impairs judgment and makes it difficult for those who have been drinking to be objective about their current state or the decisions that they are making.
It is a harsh reality that alcohol-related crashes are often deadly and that those who got behind the wheel did not think that they were too impaired to drive.
There are 32 people in the US killed every day in car accidents that involve alcohol. Since many of these people are between the ages of 21 and 24, one of the primary outcomes of these kinds of crashes is that young people often lose their lives to this kind of accident. There are severe penalties for those who do not, such as the loss of one’s license, the inability to find work or housing, and even time spent in prison.
Somehow, DUI-related accidents continue to be common occurrences all around the US each year. There are many cultural reasons for this, and obscuring the true dangers of driving intoxicated likely impacts the ability of drivers to make realistic assessments of whether or not they should drive after having a few drinks.
Safe driving necessitates the ability to react to things around you as you drive and the ability to make sound judgments. These two important factors are often immediately eroded by substances of various kinds. Even one drink can lead to impaired driving, which might harm others on the road with you.
Impaired Driving Leads to Severe Accidents
People usually think about getting hit by a drunk driver while they are also in their vehicle. However, many of the most deadly alcohol-related crashes each year involve pedestrians and innocent bystanders at the scene of the accident.
The hard cage of a car does not protect pedestrians and can be severely injured or killed by even the smallest error in judgment on the part of those in vehicles around them.
Children are also often involved in these accidents. They might be passengers in the car of someone who has been drinking or passengers in another vehicle that is involved in the accident. They might also be standing on the side of the road or playing near the location of the accident.
Those who choose to drive drunk do not think about the fact that they might accidentally harm or kill a child due to their decision to drive while impaired. These considerations, however, are the main deterrents that lead to better decision-making before heading out to a party or having dinner with friends.
Other Substances Can Also Cause Impaired Driving
Alcohol is not the only substance that causes impaired driving. Cannabis, prescription drugs, and other street drugs can also cause impaired driving and a reduced ability to make sound decisions. In many states, driving while impaired by any substance is illegal and can lead to the same penalties as driving drunk. The law does not excuse one kind of impairment over others.
You can also be held accountable for driving under the influence of more than one substance as well. Many people mistakenly believe that there are no added consequences for driving while under the influence of many substances, but that is not always the case. In most states, the dollar amount of the property damage, the injuries you have caused to others, and the kinds of substances you were using during the accident are all used to determine what types of legal penalties are leveled against you following the accident.
Choosing to drive while not fully able to make rational decisions and while reaction times and attentiveness are reduced always indicates that you don’t mind exposing others to significant risk. While this sounds harsh, the truth is that you cannot drive responsibly when under the influence of any substance, and you expose others to significant risk if you do so.
People who are willing to go out drinking or partying without picking out a designated driver, using public transportation, or calling an Uber are engaging in risky behavior that can harm everyone around them.
The Aftermath of Alcohol-Related Crashes is Not Pretty
Often, alcohol-related accidents cause significant harm to those who are involved in them. Children, pedestrians, and innocent bystanders might all be involved in the accident. Those who drive drunk often believe when they are getting behind the wheel that they are in perfectly acceptable condition to drive.
If you have been injured in an alcohol-related crash, you need a skilled and experienced Carson City auto accident attorney to represent your case. The team at Kilpatrick Bullentini has the years of experience you need to get the compensation you deserve after your accident. Let us help you to get back on your feet following an alcohol-related crash.