Carrollton Drunk Driving Accident Attorney
Dallas Drunk Driving Accidents
Drunk driving is one of the most dangerous forms of negligent driving, and significantly limits a motorist’s ability to safely operate a vehicle and give their full attention to the road and their surroundings. Driving drunk can be harmful to not only the driver but also to all motorists on the road. Unfortunately, drunk driving claims the lives of thousands of motorists and their passengers each year. These Texas motor vehicle accidents are all the more devastating because they could have easily been prevented.
In Texas, the legal limit for intoxication is .08 blood alcohol content (BAC). A motorist who operates a vehicle while under the influence of alcohol may cause an accident due to swerving, falling asleep at the wheel, speeding, making poor judgments and errors, failing to see a pedestrian or another vehicle, in addition to many other reasons. Underage drinking is also responsible for causing many injury and fatal collisions in Texas. Under Texas dram shop law, businesses or establishments such as bars and restaurants, as well as hosts of a private gathering, that allow individuals under the age of 21 to drink can be held liable if an injury or fatal auto accident occurs as a result. Therefore, liquor liability laws in Texas are meant to deter underage drinking and drunk driving overall.
In an effort to help curb the number of drunk driving accidents, the U.S. Department of Transportation initiates various annual drunk driving campaigns to spread awareness and conduct sobriety checkpoints. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) recently released new data in 2010 revealing that as many as 17 million individuals (eight percent of all drivers) have operated a vehicle while drunk at least once during the past year. With this information in mind and considering that over 250 million motor vehicles are driven on roads throughout the United States, drivers need to exercise extreme caution when behind the wheel.
According to the NHTSA, there were 43,443 auto accident related deaths in the U.S. in 2005. Over 6.1 million motor vehicle accidents were reported to law enforcement that same year, with about 2.7 million injuries resulting from those crashes. A shocking 40 percent of all traffic fatalities involved alcohol. In 2008, 3,468 Texans died in car accidents, according to the NHTSA. Approximately 43 percent of those deaths were alcohol-related.
Driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol is a national problem, but Texas in particular has a high drunk driving rate. A 2010 survey by Insurance.com ranked five Texas metropolitan cities in the top 20 of U.S. cities involving alcohol-related driving violations. Austin, Texas made the top 10, coming in at ninth place. San Antonio, Dallas, Houston, and Fort Worth came in at eleventh, twelfth, thirteenth and fourteenth places, respectively.
A Texas car accident involving a drunk driver can cause victims serious injuries, such as broken bones, traumatic brain injury (TBI), paralysis, severe disfigurement or even death. Victims and their families can hold the negligent driver responsible for their illegal actions and receive compensation for medical expenses, hospital bills, funeral costs, loss of current and future wages, pain and suffering and more.
Ms. Dina Steele of Steele Law, P.C., is ready to represent those victims injured or families who have lost a loved one in a Texas drunk driving car accident. She will conduct a highly detailed investigation of the facts to form a strong case. Ms. Dina Steele will work with skilled experts with knowledge about drunk driving and wrongful death accidents. Contact Steele Law, P.C. for a free consultation on your Texas drunk driving accident case.