There is a scenario that scares even the toughest parent: A late night call from a police officer saying their daughter or son has been in an accident.
It’s a situation that demands a person be strong and composed. It demands a person find out the truth about themselves in that moment. A parent might react strongly: grab the coat, put on shoes, and run out of the house into the night. Another might handle the emotions first and try to gain a sense of composure about the situation.
Car accidents happen every day. In fact, over 2 million people worldwide are injured in car accidents every year. Many of those drivers are injured in accidents as the result of honest mistakes, whereas many are injured in what lawyers and judges would called “negligence.” That means the other person is legally responsible.
Negligence occurs when a person is at fault for an accident, though the degrees of negligence depends on the situation and on the person who caused the car accident. There are three major causes to car accidents that end in a person’s death. They are drunk driving, distracted driving, and aggressive driving.
Drunk driving occurs when a person has drank and drove above the legal limit of blood alcohol concentration in that area. That number is usually .8 blood alcohol concentration, though different cities have their own rules. Drunk driving is a harmful activity that causes billions of dollars in damages every year. There are statistics:
- Drunk driving costs the U.S. $199 billion a year.
- Each day, people drive drunk almost 300,000 times, but fewer than 4,000 are arrested.
- And according to Mothers Against Drunk Driving, over 30,000 people die in accidents involving drunk driving every year.
Drunk driving occurs when a person drinks more than a beer and drives. A person’s senses might be dulled by the drinking and the alcohol and they may become slower to react to changing situations, to have trouble focusing on the road, may become dizzy and disoriented and much more.
Someone who drinks and drives puts people’s lives in danger in the general vicinity. If that person moves quickly, jumps in front of the car, or moves suddenly, the person who is driving drunk may have trouble responding quickly, leading to an accident. That accident may result in a fatality.
Distracted driving is another possible cause of a fatal car accident. Distracted driving is any kind of driving where attention is taken away from the road. Distracted driving, as defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, concerns three things: visually distracted driving, manually distracted driving, and generally distracted driving.
Visually distracted driving occurs when someone takes their eyes off the road. This can occur when texting on a cell phone (in which someone will pass through five football fields in 10 seconds if they are texting on the highway), looking at the radio for a prolonged period of time, or looking at passing scenery.
Manually distracted driving occurs when someone takes their hands off the wheel. This can occur (again) with texting or can occur when a pet has moved onto a person’s lap and the person is trying to push the animal off. It can occur when eating a burger or any other situation where someone takes their hands off the wheel.
Generally distracted driving occurs when someone is simply distracted from the road. This can mean talking to someone in the passenger or back seat, playing with pets while driving, fiddling 3with the radio, or any number of other factors.
One statistic about distracted driving states that in 2013, 3,154 people were killed in motor vehicle crashes involving distracted drivers, and about 424,000 people were injured.
Those who are injured in an auto accident involving a negligent driver may file a lawsuit through an auto accident lawyer. An auto accident lawyer is a lawyer for person injury or an injury attorney, who is skilled in personal injury law. in that area. An auto accident lawyer represents individuals who have been involved in auto accidents.
An auto accident lawyer, if he or she is competent at their job, will know which court to file the claim in and how to represent an individual to get the most money from the settlement.
