What You Need to Know About Drunk Driving Accidents
Driving While Drunk or Under The Influence of a Drug
As a parent, I always worry about getting that late night phone call. Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night after having a bad dream. It involves police officers ringing my door bell at 3 in the morning with tragic news.
My daughter is in her second year of college and rarely has a drink. She never drinks and drives.
Most of her friends are now driving too. They are all safe drivers. But that’s not what really worries me.
What I’m really worried about is some other idiot, maybe even a classmate from school, drinking and driving and causing harm to my daughter or her friends.
Having represented numerous families who’s’ lives have been forever changed by a drunk driver, my worries are real. In fact, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the MADD organization, each year approximately 11,000 people will die in drunk-driving crashes. That’s about one death every 50 minutes. That’s unacceptable and needs to stop!
Most people are not aware of the fact that an average drunk driver has driven drunk 87 times before his or her first arrest. I’ve been told by police officers that in Orange County, one out of 5 drivers on the freeway during a late weekend night is under the influence. That’s crazy when you really think about it.
It’s also startling to know that 50 to 75% of convicted drunk drivers continue to drive on a suspended license. Many while under the influence. Nothing changes after the arrest and conviction. People are still harmed by the illegal conduct.
When it comes to injuries, every single minute, one person is injured from an alcohol-related crash. During a lifetime, one in three people will be involved in an alcohol-related crash. When it comes to young adults, the numbers get even more scary…
Teen alcohol use kills about 6,000 people each year, more than all illegal drugs combined. Car crashes are the leading cause of death for teens and one out of three of those is alcohol related.
High school students who use alcohol or other substances are five times more likely to drop out of school or believe good grades are not important. One in three 8th graders drink alcohol and one in five teens binge drink.
Kids who start drinking young are seven times more likely to be in an alcohol-related crash. Most parents hide their heads in the sand and refuse to acknowledge the problem. In fact, only 1 in 100 parents believes his or her teen binge drinks.
Please don’t drink and drive. Please help educate the young drivers in your life with the facts and consequences of drinking and driving.
More good info and resources can be found at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or MADD