Drunk driving poses a serious danger to everyone on the road. Recent statistics from Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) show that in just one year 9,878 people were killed and approximately 350,000 people were injured in alcohol-related car crashes. This amounts to one death every fifty-three minutes and one injury every ninety seconds. Additionally, these types of motor vehicle accidents cost more than $132 billion each year. MADD also warns that these accidents happen with surprising frequency and that one in three people will be involved in a drunk driving accident in their lifetime (i). People who have been involved in a serious traffic accident should talk to a drunk driving lawyer who can file a lawsuit.
Drinking and driving has had a serious impact on residents of Southeastern New England. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), there have been more than 133 DUI deaths in Rhode Island and more than 608 DUI deaths in Massachusetts over the past five years (ii)(iii). These accidents also cause serious and disabling injuries and many innocent victims are never fully compensated because the costs of their injuries exceed insurance policy limits. However, both RI and MA allow victims to recover from third parties who were negligent in distributing alcohol. This means an injured victim could recover from a social host who serves alcohol to minors or a restaurant that continues serving drinks to someone who is visibly intoxicated. These dram shop and liquor liability laws uphold a key principle of the civil justice system, injured victims should be fully compensated by negligent parties.
Attorney Paul d’Oliveira stated, “Drinking and driving is reckless and this type of behavior needlessly places innocent people in danger. In my experience, these cases always take a huge toll on the victims and their families. Our auto accident lawyers exhaust all avenues for recovery in these types of cases, especially when the drunk driver does not have adequate insurance coverage. In some cases, we can bring a claim against the person or establishment who served alcohol to a minor or a visibly intoxicated person. Our firm settled a case for a young woman several years ago recovering over $950,000 for her and most of the money came from the insurer of a drinking establishment.”
The drunk driving infographic gives car crash statistics as well as information on recovering damages after an alcohol-related motor vehicle accidents. People who have been involved in these types of accidents should talk to an attorney about filing a drunk driving lawsuit. d’Oliveira & Associates focuses solely on injury cases and the personal injury lawyers at the firm have experience handling auto accident lawsuits. The law firm also works with experienced attorneys throughout Southeastern New England and there are no legal fees unless you receive a settlement or award. To contact the firm call their toll-free hurtline at 1-800-992-6878 or submit a contact form online.
Sources:
- (i) MADD Statistics.
http://www.madd.org/drunk-driving/about/drunk-driving-statistics.html - (ii) RI DUI Statistics.
ttp://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/departments/nrd-30/ncsa/STSI/44_RI/2011/44_RI_2011.htm - (iii) MA DUI Statistics.
http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/departments/nrd-30/ncsa/STSI/25_MA/2011/25_MA_2011.htm
Paul d’Oliveira
Attorney Paul d’Oliveira has been practicing personal injury and disability law for over 30 years. He started his personal injury law practice in 1989 with two offices in Fall River, MA and East Providence, RI. Today his firm has 16 offices in RI and Southeastern, MA.
Rate this Post
Loading...