We have signed up 6 cases over the last few months. Each of them involved a drunk driving accident. One of them involves the wrongful death of a elderly woman who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time when a drunk driver ran a stop sign and broad sided her at 50 mph.
You would think that the tough laws against drinking and driving would drastically reduce the number of injury accidents caused by alcohol. But it really hasn’t.
One problem is that the criminal penalties for vehicular homicide is fairly low. I believe the last time I checked, the stats showed that the average sentence handed down to someone who kills another person while driving drunk is 3 to 4 years behind bars.
If only our society could truly appreciate the devastation that a drunk driving fatality causes to the family members of the innocent victim. Sometimes the person killed is a parent with small children. Those are the most tragic of cases since the child’s parent will no longer be there to take care of the child, provide financial and emotional support, and all of the other important qualities that a strong parent-child relationship provides.
What is equally tragic is that the accident could have easily been prevented. Just don’t drink and drive. When you drink, your judgment is the first thing that is affected. You cannot rationally decide whether you are able to drive after consuming a few drinks. Just don’t take the chance. It’s not worth it.
