DUI Accidents & Dram Shop

Published on: December 30, 2022

Alcohol Related Personal Injuries Increase Odds of Dying One Year Later

People who have suffered an alcohol related personal injury, like an injury that results from a drunk driving car accident, may have their chances of dying in the year after the injury increase significantly.

As the holiday season commences, it is important for Georgia motorists to understand that driving under the influence of alcohol, or otherwise using alcohol irresponsibly in a manner that causes them personal injury may actually increase their chances of dying in the year after the injury. According to the results of a new study that was published in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, when a person suffers an injury of the kind that results from an alcohol -related car accident, or any alcohol-related accident, especially an injury that is serious enough to require hospitalization, the chances of the person dying after the injury increase by a staggering 5 times.

The researchers looked at people who suffered from alcohol – related disorders and analyzed their fatality risk after suffering a serious personal injury related to their alcoholism. Different types of injuries were studied as part of the research. These injuries include those that result from drunk driving accidents as well as slip and fall accidents which are common when a person is inebriated and not in complete control of his senses. The researchers also included those injuries that occurred as a result of attempted self-harm, or when the person is involved in drunken fights.

Published on: October 28, 2022

Judge Approves Bond for Motorist in Fatal Atlanta DUI Accident

by Robert N. Katz, Esq.

A judge in Fulton County has set a bond for a motorist who police allege, caused a drunk driving accident on I- 20 early in the month. The impact of the crash caused one of the passengers in the car the motorist hit, a 21-year-old woman to be ejected from the car. She sustained fatal injuries. The other people in the car were also injured, and still recovering in the hospital.

This judge set a bond of $310,000 for the alleged driver on charges that range from DUI to first degree homicide. For the family of the woman killed in the accident, it’s been a frustrating experience to see the man they believe responsible for their loved one’s death out on bond.

There has been a decline in injuries and fatalities caused by drunk driving accidents across Georgia. For example, in 2008, there were 416 deaths caused by drunk driving accidents. That was a decline over 2007, and mirrored the drop across most of Georgia, and, in fact, most of the country. Much of this decline can be attributed to better enforcement efforts .Law enforcement has become more aggressive about cracking down on drunk drivers randomly over the weekends and major holidays.

Published on: October 24, 2022

Highway Safety Group Gives Georgia Good Ranking

by Robert N. Katz, Esq.

Auto safety group Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety has released its annual report on performance and highway safety measures. This year, Georgia has been ranked well, notching up a Green ranking, the highest on the list, a finding that is encouraging to the Atlanta car accident attorneys at our firm.

The 9th annual Roadmap to State Highway Safety Laws compares all 50 states and grades them based on their adoption of 15 basic traffic safety laws. The 15 laws include everything from seatbelt and motorcycle safety to graduated driver’s licensing programs and distracted driving measures.

Georgia received a Green ranking, and the report found that the state performed well by implementing at least 11 of the laws the Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety recommends. However, many feel Georgia could do better. One of the ways that the state could improve its highway safety record is by raising the minimum age for getting a learner’s permit, and enacting stricter nighttime and passenger restrictions on graduated driver’s licensing programs for teen drivers. Sadly, teenage drivers are some of the biggest victims of auto accidents every year. Stronger graduated driver’s licensing laws in Georgia may help save more teen lives in accidents every year.

Published on: October 11, 2022

Report Finds Widespread Drugged – Drunk Driving

by Robert N. Katz, Esq.

A new study finds that a significantly high number of people who consume alcohol and drugs go ahead and operate a motor vehicle after doing the same, raising their risks of being involved in an auto accident.

According to the study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, as many as two-thirds of persons who consumed alcohol and imbibed marijuana also admitted to driving within 2 hours after the fact. The results of the study are disturbing because each of these behaviors is dangerous on its own. Your risk of being involved in a car accident increases substantially even if you are only under the influence of alcohol or only under the influence of drugs. A combination of the two, however, would be lethal behind the wheel.

As many as 7 out of 10 drivers in the study admitted to driving after consuming alcohol. Only about one in 10 drivers admitted to driving after having ingested both alcohol and drugs. However, among these, 33% admitted to operating a motor vehicle within 2 hours after ingesting alcohol and marijuana.

Published on: July 20, 2022

High Visibility Enforcement Campaigns may help Reduce Auto Accident Fatality Numbers

by Robert N. Katz, Esq.

Even as federal transportation authorities grapple with a spike in deaths in all types of car accidents, a new study finds that high visibility traffic enforcement campaigns may possibly hold the key to reducing those numbers and keeping motorists safe.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recently revealed that auto accident death numbers are on the rise. Those numbers were extremely high in 2020, a year in which American motorists drove fewer vehicle miles than in previous years. In 2021, according to projected estimates, those numbers were at their highest in more than a decade. This increase has been high enough to spur federal transportation authorities into action. The new National Highway Traffic Safety Administration chief has announced his Roadway Safety Strategy, a plan that aims to combine efforts towards safer roads, vehicles and motorists to reduce car accident death numbers.

A new analysis by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration finds that high visibility traffic law enforcement campaigns like those that are frequently conducted to encourage motorists to buckle up or drive safely or at posted speeds may be effective in helping reduce car accident fatality numbers

Published on: June 30, 2022

Combination of Safety Campaigns and Strong Action Most Effective in Preventing Car Accidents

by Robert N. Katz, Esq.

The federal administration spends millions of dollars in traffic safety campaigns every year. An analysis of the effectiveness of these campaigns finds that unless these education campaigns are also combined with practical action, they may have a very limited impact on traffic safety or the number of car accidents which occur each year.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s traffic safety campaigns encourage motorists to drive safely, wear seatbelts and avoid driving under the influence of alcohol. One stellar campaign that the federal agency conducts annually is the Click it or Ticket campaign that encourages motorists to wear seatbelts while driving. The campaign is credited with increasing seatbelt usage across the country, and usage rates are currently now at above 90%. This is a very respectable percentage, although it is still imperative that we reach out to the 10% of motorists who fail to wear seat belts. Individuals who fail to wear a seatbelt are those who are most likely to suffer a personal injury in a car accident. To learn more about personal injury matters involving car accidents, please visit our website.

However, according to some experts, it is not the campaign by itself that has promoted seat belt use. Rather, it is the fact that newer automobiles now come with a seatbelt warning system that gives a motorist time to wear the seatbelt and make sure that everyone else is also buckled in before the driver operates the car. In one such system, the car will not start until a few seconds after the ignition is turned on to give the motorist time to buckle up.

Published on: March 28, 2022

NHTSA Finds Lower Blood Alcohol Limit Reduces Accident Numbers

by Robert N. Katz, Esq.

Drunk driving accidents can result in serious, if not fatal, injuries and have devastating consequences on all those involved. When states lower the maximum blood alcohol concentration level that a motorist can be driving with in his system, it can lead to an overall reduction in the number of people driving under the influence of alcohol, and consequently, the number of car crashes involving such intoxicated drivers.

In Georgia, as with most other states in the country, the maximum blood alcohol concentration limit for motorists is .08 %. If a motorist is driving with a blood alcohol concentration above .08%, he can be arrested for driving under the influence. Some states have been experimenting with lower blood alcohol concentration limits in an effort to understand whether this can further help reduce the incidence of intoxicated driving. Early results of those experiments are now out. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration specifically focused on a single state that happens to be the only state in the United States that has successfully experimented with lower blood alcohol concentration levels.

Utah happens to be the only state in the country that has a blood alcohol concentration limit of .05 %. In 2019, that state lowered the blood alcohol concentration limit to.05 % from the previous .08%. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in its estimate found that as a result, the number of fatal accidents dropped by 19.8% in that state. There was a significant drop of 18.3% in the fatality rate. In 2019, the state recorded 225 fatal accidents in spite of an increase in the vehicle miles travelled compared to the previous year. That was a drop from the 259 fatal accidents that had been recorded in 2016.

Published on: February 28, 2022

Drugs Compound Effect of Alcohol-Impaired Driving

by Robert N. Katz, Esq.

Driving under the influence of alcohol on its own is dangerous enough, but when a person drives under the influence of both alcohol and drugs, there is an even more dangerous impact on his ability to drive safely. A new analysis of previous studies that have focused on the effect of a combination of alcohol and drugs on a person’s ability to drive safely underscores what safety advocates have always known – that drugs combined with alcohol is a potent auto accident risk.

The analysis of more than 57 previous studies was published recently in the journal Addiction. The researchers were specifically looking at studies that proved a link between a combination of alcohol and drugs on traffic safety.

According to the analysis, the combination of drugs and alcohol has a much more severe and detrimental impact on a person’s ability to drive safely, compared to the influence of only alcohol or only drugs. What is interesting is that the review underscores the different kinds of impact that alcohol and drugs can have on a person’s ability to drive safely. Alcohol, for instance, encourages impulsive and rash driving behaviors like speeding, that significantly increase the risk of being involved in an accident. Drugs, however, do not encourage speeding. In fact, persons driving under the influence of drugs may actually drive slowly, but that does not mean that they are driving safely. Dangerous driving behaviors like veering from the lane are very common when a person is driving under the influence of drugs.

Published on: December 31, 2021

Most Drunk Drivers Wrongly Believe they are Fit to Drive

by Robert N. Katz, Esq.

It is well known that alcohol impairs a person’s judgment and reflexive abilities which is why someone who has been drinking should not be behind a wheel. However, most motorists underestimate exactly how drunk they are and almost always mistakenly believe that they are fit to drive. Not surprisingly, a new study finds that self-monitoring and self-evaluation of drunkenness may not help prevent accidents involving drunk motorists.

The study was conducted in Germany which has a legal blood alcohol concentration limit of 0.05. The researchers found in their study that more than 50% of the participants believed that they were fit to drive even though they had a blood alcohol concentration limit that was higher than the maximum legal limit. There were ninety participants in the study, and the average age of the participants was 24. As part of the study, the participants were made to drink alcoholic beverages until their blood alcohol concentration level reached 0.11% or more than twice the legal limit in that country. The study was conducted over a period of two days.

The researchers found that as many as 39% of the participants believed that they had just reached the intoxication limit when they had crossed the limit. On the second day, 53% of the participants believed that they had just reached the legal limit when they had actually surpassed it. This shows that individual ability to determine drunkenness cannot be taken as a confirmation of a person’s ability to drive safely. Self evaluation of driving ability can be extremely prejudiced, and drivers can be prone to making errors in determining their own ability to drive safely.

Published on: July 27, 2021

Past Driver Behavior is a Major Accident Indicator

by Robert N. Katz, Esq.

Drivers who have a history of rash or negligent driving practices are very likely to continue indulging in these practices in the future, increasing their risks of an accident.

According to researchers at the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, past driver behavior is a very good indicator of future accident risk. In other words, drivers who have a history of poor driving, including speeding, drunk driving, driving under the influence of drugs and distracted driving are very likely to continue to engage in these practices. According to the researchers, this is the reason why we saw increased traffic accident fatalities in 2020 in spite of a reduction in traffic volumes. Even with lower volumes of traffic, Atlanta roads saw a higher number of traffic accident fatalities last year, with distracted driving, speeding and drunk driving pushing those numbers upward.

Past behavior is a reliable indicator of future driving. For example, a motorist who has a history of driving at high speeds will continue to be at risk of speeding. If anything, the behavior of such drivers is only exacerbated when the roads are less congested. In 2020, the streets saw lower traffic crash traffic volumes, but the empty streets only encouraged drivers who were already very prone to speeding to drive at very high speeds.