impaired driving

Published on: December 8, 2014

White House Names December National Impaired Driving Prevention Month

When most people think of the holiday season, they imagine cookies, presents, and parties. It is a time to spend with family and friends, celebrating love and togetherness. Unfortunately, the holiday season is also a time of increased danger on the roads. With inclement weather and more drivers on the roads, traffic accidents are common at this time of year. In addition, one of the major causes of accidents during the holidays is drugged and intoxicated drivers.

The White House is observing National Impaired Driving Prevention Month this December. While the perils of drunk driving are well known, drugged driving can be just as dangerous. Even prescription drugs can impair perception, reaction time, judgment, and motor skills. In an extensive survey done by the National Highway Traffic Safety in Administration in 2007, one in eight nighttime, weekend drivers tested positive for illicit drugs. In 2012, the National Survey on Drug Use and Health reported that 10.3 million adolescents and adults admitted to having driven under the influence of drugs within the past year. In 2009, one in three fatally injured drivers with known drug-test results tested positive for drugs.

Seventeen states, including Georgia, have adopted zero tolerance or “per se” statutes that make it a crime to operate a vehicle while having alcohol or a drug in the body. Law enforcement officials and researchers believe that this type of statute is the most effective in dealing with drugged drivers. Georgia’s law makes it illegal for a person to operate a motor vehicle “under the influence of any drug to the extent that it is less safe for the person to drive.”

Published on: May 9, 2014

Stroke Survivors Often Unaware of Accident Risks

by Robert N. Katz, Esq.

A stroke is one of the most serious medical events a person can experience, and affects more than 800,000 people in the United States every year. There are many long-term consequences of a stroke that can affect a person’s cognitive and mental abilities.This includes their ability to safely operate a car, truck or motorcycle.

According to the results of a new study, many persons who have survived a stroke begin driving again as quickly as one month after the stroke, without undergoing a driving evaluation or test. Those findings are very alarming, because a stroke can impact a person’s abilities to drive safely, even if there are no outward physical signs of the trauma that the body has been through.

For instance, a stroke very often impairs a person’s reflexes and coordination. That could affect the way a motorist reacts to an emergency situation while driving. A stroke can also result in slowness, memory problems, and judgment difficulties. All of these can prove catastrophic behind the wheel and on the road, where a person is required to constantly make judgments about speed and distance.

Published on: November 6, 2012

Depression, Anxiety Drugs Can Increase Potential for Car Accident

by Robert N. Katz, Esq.

A recent study found that certain common prescription drugs used to treat conditions like depression, anxiety, and other mental disorders can actually increase the risk of car accidents.

According to the study, which was published in the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology, an individual’s risk of a car accident may increase if he takes medications that are used to treat these conditions.In fact, the links between these medications and an increased risk of car accidents is strong enough for researchers to warn doctors that they should alert patients who are taking these medications not to drive after taking them.

The researchers specifically focused on on psychotropic drugs that are often used to treat depression and anxiety.These drugs can alter the way the brain functions.Ultimately, the side effects of the drug can impair the person’s ability to control a vehicle.

Published on: June 27, 2011

Atlanta Drunk Driving Accident Risks Exist Even with Minute Traces of Alcohol

by Robert N. Katz, Esq.

Very often motorists involved in car accidents believe their ability to drive was unaffected because they had had just a couple of drinks. Unfortunately, their belief is incorrect and dangerous. A new study confirms the reason why so many serious accidents occur even when motorists are driving with a blood alcohol level below the .08% limit.

According to the study, a person may be at risk of causing auto accidents with serious injuries even when he’s driving with barely traceable alcohol levels in his blood.The researchers analyzed accident data involving 1.5 million people.The researchers focused on those accidents involving the most serious injuries, and compared them to those accidents in which the injuries were relatively minor.

They found that accidents, in which the person was driving even with a .01% concentration of alcohol in his blood, were more likely to end in seriously injurious accidents than those accidents involving sober motorists.Specifically, accidents seemed to be at least 36.6% more severe when one of the motorists was driving under the influence of barely traceable levels of alcohol.In comparison, accidents were much less injurious, when the persons involved were not driving under the influence of alcohol in their system.This indicates that even a single alcoholic beverage can be sufficient to impair a person seriously enough to cause an accident that ends with serious injuries.Atlanta drunk driving accident attorneys have observed these issues for years, but it’s good to have a study to confirm our experience.

Published on: July 21, 2008

Truck Accidents Caused by Medically Impaired Drivers

by Robert N. Katz, Esq.

If you have been involved in an accident or crash with a tractor-trailer or a bus, the statistics reveal the driver may have been medically impaired.The Associated Press reported today that it obtained an advance copy of a Government Accounting Office report showing that over 500,0000 of the country’s commercial truck drivers also qualify for full federal medical disability payments.Over a thousand drivers had vision, hearing and seizure disorders.

As far back as 2001, safety regulators advised the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, the government office responsible for regulating commercial truck and bus drivers, that reforms must be undertaken to insure that those carrying commercial drivers licenses are medically fit to drive.

In 2006, the federal Transportation Department issued 7.3 million commercial driving citations for violating federal medical rules.Twelve states, one of which was Georgia, accounted for over half of the violations.

Published on: November 12, 2007

Sleeping Truck Drivers Cause Accidents

by Robert N. Katz, Esq.

November 11, 2007

Last week the Center for Disease Control (CDC) celebrated Drowsy Driver Prevention Week.Interestingly, in a poll conducted as part of their education campaign, 47 percent of commercial truck drivers admitted to having fallen asleep while driving a truck during some point in their career.

In a study conducted of the sleep patterns of long haul truck drivers and printed in the New England Journal of Medicine, drivers obtained between 4 and 5 hours of verifiable sleep during the course of driving ten-hour days in a five-day period.Most people need between 7 and 9 hours of sleep per night.Thus, fatigue and sleep deprivation constitute significant safety issues for long haul truck drivers.