Hold a Drunk Driver Accountable for His or Her Actions in Court

If you’ve just been in an accident with a drunk driver and he or she tells you that this “has never happened before,” the odds are very good that doesn’t mean it’s the first time he or she has ever gotten behind the wheel after drinking.

Instead, he or she probably means, “I’ve never been caught drinking and driving before.”

The average drunk driver will get behind the wheel while intoxicated 80 times before finally getting caught. All too often, getting caught involves being in an accident with someone else — statistically, there’s an accident caused by a drunk driver every two minutes. At least once an hour, someone in one of those accidents is going to die.

Unfortunately, information like that does nothing to sober up the average drunk driver — whose past experiences driving drunk tend to make him or her believe that the statistics only apply to other people.

Even when drunk drivers are eventually caught and punished, they still may not stop driving — indicating that they still think that the law of averages will be on their side even if the criminal laws aren’t. As many as 75 percent of drunk drivers who have lost their driver’s licenses due to drunk driving convictions will continue to drive anyhow.

Often, the only way you can make a personal impact on a drunk driver is to hold him or her accountable if you’ve been in an accident through a civil suit. Criminal charges hold the drunk driver accountable to the state alone — not the injured individual. Civil suits hold the drunk driver accountable to the individual directly for his or her foolish and negligent behavior (getting behind the wheel while drunk).

If you’ve been injured by a drunk driver, don’t delay — contact an attorney right away so that you can protect your right to fair compensation. For more information about how our firm approaches these types of cases, please visit our page.