San Diego Injury Lawyers Blog

San Diego drunk driving attorneys are always happy to hear of efforts to keep teenagers safe. Drunk driving accidents that involve teenage drivers add up to about 6,000 deaths every year, according to statistics from Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD). This number of deaths is more than all the deaths due from illegal drugs combined, what a frightening statistic. Further information shows that automobile accidents are the leading cause of death for teenagers. One third of the auto accidents that kill teens are attributed to alcohol.

The California Highway Patrol (CHP) has initiated a new program called Steering Teens Straight. The goal of the program is to help teenagers make better choices before getting behind the wheel of a car. This last Saturday a group of volunteers got together to act out a scene of a tragic accident. The CHP hopes that showing teenagers the true to life consequences of drunk driving will motivate them to avoid driving under the influence of alcohol. The volunteers in the group were made up of students from North County high schools, CHP officers and other public safety officials - all offering their time to this great cause.

This new program, Steering Teens Straight, joins other programs, such as Start Smart, aimed at keeping teens safe behind the wheel. The Start Smart program encourages teens and their parents to take a two hour free driver safety course. The speakers and officers that teach the short safety course remind parents of their responsibility to model good driving behavior and to teach their teens safe driving practices. The teenagers are instructed in techniques that help them avoid collisions with other cars and in safe driving principles. Enrolling in this program, which is free of charge, is as easy as contacting the local CHP office.

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We at Johnson Attorneys Group already know the dangers involved when a person gets behind the wheel to operate a vehicle after they have been drinking. You don't even have to be a personal injury lawyer to know that is risky business. The California Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs estimates that 3 in every 10 Americans will find themselves involved in an alcohol-related accident during their lives! Each year thousands of American lose their lives because they or someone else was drunk driving.

Why does alcohol lead to so many accidents? Alcohol is known to be a depressant, meaning it slows down the ability of the central nervous system to function properly. This translates to a delay in normal brain function thus inhibiting that individual from functioning normally. Researchers have also found that alcohol affects an individual's hand-eye coordination and the information-processing skills a person has, otherwise known as their cognitive skills. The amount of alcohol consumed directly affects a person's ability to act in any given situation. Many people enjoy the loss of inhibition and mild euphoria they experience when drinking, but at what cost?

Unfortunately, its not just when an individual is behind the wheel of a motor vehicle when injuries related to alcohol consumption can be sustained. Just this week a man was injured while walking along San Diego railroad tracks with a friend late at night. A freight train traveling at about 5 miles per hour struck the man and he suffered severe injuries to both legs, the friend was not injured. The train operators were not aware they had struck anyone and continued on their schedule. Police officials indicated that the man had been drinking heavily before the accident.

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Drunk driving is often recognized as an individual driving with a Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) of 0.08%. In other words, 0.08% of an individual's blood has alcohol in it. That doesn't sound like a lot but we have seen what tragedies are caused by drunk driving. Not even one percent of a blood alcohol content level leads can lead to death if you're driving a car or other motorized vehicle. Now a new study suggests that 0.08% is too high.

Two University of California, San Diego Sociologists published a study in the journal Addiction that illustrates a need to take a closer look at what is considered drunk and how we can decrease the amount of injuries and deaths related to higher levels of intoxication. They studied data from injuries and accidents collected by the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) database. FARS has a record of each auto accident in the United States, from 1994 to 2008, that involved at least one fatality. Since FARS also had a record of the BAC for those drivers it was a thorough source for the study.

Continue reading "Pair Of UCSD Sociologists Determine Driving Is Impaired Even After One Alcoholic Beverage" »