What To Do If You're In An Accident Caused By A Drunk Driver
People should not drink and drive. People should not take drugs and drive. Driving requires your full attention, and we owe it to each other on the road to make sure that we aren't compromised when we drive.
Yet, sadly, in spite of that, in the Washington D.C. and Maryland area, three out of every ten drivers who die in a car accident tested positive for some kind of drug or alcohol in their system.
We clearly have a serious problem with drunk and drugged driving.
What happens if a drunk driver causes an accident on the road? If a person is injured by a drunk or impaired driver that person can sue for those injuries. Automobile accidents caused by drunk drivers are ripe for a lawsuit, because the fact that the person who caused the accident was drunk can dramatically change the dynamics of that case at trial.
One thing about proving liability in a drunk driving automobile accident case is that often, if there is a police report in the case, the police will stop thinking about who caused the accident, or why the accident was caused if they can prove that the driver had been drinking.
The criminal justice system and a civil lawsuit for injuries intersect in an interesting way here - police officers are interested in investigating and proving a crime. You have to prove that the other person caused the injury if you want to win in a lawsuit against a drunk driver. That gets you part of the way, but not all the way there.
Drunk driving cases are not all that different from normal automobile accident cases, but things are different in small ways. Just like in a normal car accident case, you should make sure you collect information quickly after the accident. You should find out who your witnesses are and what they know and what they can testify to later.
That means that if you have been in an automobile accident that you think has been caused by a drunk driver, you should do two things. First, try to find out as many facts as you can that establish that the person is drunk. Look for signs of alcohol, like the smell of the person's breath, or empty bottles in the person's car. Observe whether anyone else has seen evidence of the driver's impaired condition.
If you think a drunk driver caused the accident, you may want to insist that the police become involved. A police report that says that the other driver was under the influence can go a long way toward proving your liability. And, as an added twist, if the driver is prosecuted for driving under the influence the local prosecutor will do a lot of the work that needs to be done to show that the accident was caused by the other driver.
Drunk driving is a serious problem in our society, but resources exist to hold people who cause injuries from drunk driving accountable.
Yet, sadly, in spite of that, in the Washington D.C. and Maryland area, three out of every ten drivers who die in a car accident tested positive for some kind of drug or alcohol in their system.
We clearly have a serious problem with drunk and drugged driving.
What happens if a drunk driver causes an accident on the road? If a person is injured by a drunk or impaired driver that person can sue for those injuries. Automobile accidents caused by drunk drivers are ripe for a lawsuit, because the fact that the person who caused the accident was drunk can dramatically change the dynamics of that case at trial.
One thing about proving liability in a drunk driving automobile accident case is that often, if there is a police report in the case, the police will stop thinking about who caused the accident, or why the accident was caused if they can prove that the driver had been drinking.
The criminal justice system and a civil lawsuit for injuries intersect in an interesting way here - police officers are interested in investigating and proving a crime. You have to prove that the other person caused the injury if you want to win in a lawsuit against a drunk driver. That gets you part of the way, but not all the way there.
Drunk driving cases are not all that different from normal automobile accident cases, but things are different in small ways. Just like in a normal car accident case, you should make sure you collect information quickly after the accident. You should find out who your witnesses are and what they know and what they can testify to later.
That means that if you have been in an automobile accident that you think has been caused by a drunk driver, you should do two things. First, try to find out as many facts as you can that establish that the person is drunk. Look for signs of alcohol, like the smell of the person's breath, or empty bottles in the person's car. Observe whether anyone else has seen evidence of the driver's impaired condition.
If you think a drunk driver caused the accident, you may want to insist that the police become involved. A police report that says that the other driver was under the influence can go a long way toward proving your liability. And, as an added twist, if the driver is prosecuted for driving under the influence the local prosecutor will do a lot of the work that needs to be done to show that the accident was caused by the other driver.
Drunk driving is a serious problem in our society, but resources exist to hold people who cause injuries from drunk driving accountable.
