When a truck comes careering down the road, headed right in the direction of your oncoming car, you’re slow to react. You’re beyond perceiving things around you and you can’t respond quick enough in the right way. It could be the end of your life.
Americans driving while intoxicated or driving under the Influence (DUI) has become like an epidemic in 2020. Getting behind the wheel of a vehicle after consuming alcohol is a serious crime.
Innocent People Lose their Lives
It is when you’re operating below par as you have a blood alcohol content of at least 0.08%. But what other facts do you need to know about this most abhorrent crime?
It’s a crime that doesn’t only impact the perpetrator. Many times a host of innocent people lose their lives because of an intoxicated driver’s sheer indulgence and selfishness.
- MADD is a civilian-based organization that focuses on underage driving while intoxicated. They make it a top concern of theirs. They tell us that 2,000 college students between the ages of 18 and 24, die each year from injuries they sustain due to alcohol. When it comes to drunken-driving, both males and females are equal participants.
- Twenty-nine people die in drunk-driving accidents every day in America.
- Kids and teenagers who start drinking early are 7 times more likely to be involved in an alcohol-related car accident in their lives.
- In the state of Minnesota, during 2017, there were 72 people killed in driving while intoxicated accidents. Alcohol-related crashes account for a 1/3 of the state’s total traffic deaths each year. More than half of the offenders during 2017 were young adults – aged 20-34.
- In Minnesota, the alcohol-concentration limit for driving is 0.08, like in many other states. In Minnesota however, you can be arrested for driving while intoxicated at lower levels. The punishment varies with each DWI offender but a penalty for a first-time offender could well be jail time as well as a loss of license – sometimes for as long as a year.
- Unfortunately, between 50 to 75% of the people who have had their licenses revoked because of driving under the influence simply resort to driving illegally without their license.
- In their efforts to reduce the number of drunk-driving stats, Minnesota has its DWI Sanctions with Ignition Interlock so as to enhance road safety. With the use of ignition interlock, DWI offenders have a chance to regain driving privileges.
An ignition interlock is installed under the dashboard of the vehicle. It s connected to the vehicle’s starter and the drive has to provide a breath sample into the interlock. The driver’s alcohol concentration must be below 0.02, otherwise, the vehicle won’t start. An interlock is therefore a tool to prevent impaired driving and to enhance road safety.
- Drinking under the age of 21 is illegal and if you are charged with under-age drinking, you could face severe legal penalties.
- Twenty-eight percent of all traffic deaths involve an alcohol-impaired driver.
- In 2017 alone, 10,874 regular Americans – dads, moms and kids, died in drunk-driving accidents.
- The average driver who insists on driving while intoxicated gets away with no less than 80 ‘drunken drives’ before they are arrested.
- In 2016, out of 111 million episodes of drunk-driving, only 1% of drunk drivers were arrested. Nine percent of drunk drivers killed in a car accident had a prior conviction for DWI.
- Every year in the United States, the economic cost of car accidents is an estimated $242 billion.
- The first state to adopt a law against drinking and driving was New York. They did this in 1910, and then several other states followed. In 2000, the legal limit for blood alcohol concentration or BAC was set at .08%. Utah changed its legal limit to .05%, the strictest in the nation. Laws regarding drunk driving vary from state to state.
- With a BAC of 0.08, you have reduced muscle coordination, reduced ability to process information, lack of judgment and the ability to reason, loss of short-term memory, lack of speed control and reduced ability to concentrate.
- The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism tells us that alcohol enters the bloodstream immediately and that its effects can be felt within 10 minutes after taking the first sip.
- Alcohol content varies between the different drinks and brands. In the United States, one standard drink contains roughly 0.6 ounces or 14 grams, of pure alcohol. For instance, 12 ounces of regular beer and 5 ounces of table wine are considered to be one standard drink.
- Any amount of alcohol in your bloodstream can impact your driving abilities. Your eye, hand and foot coordination no longer works for you and with these co-ordination skills, you can’t avoid a harmful situation on the roads.
Driving safely requires you to be able to make good judgments, but alcohol affects your driving skills and slows your response time, increasing the likelihood of an accident.
Experienced Legal Help on your Side
Being involved in a drunken driven crash needn’t spell frustration and uncertainties with you. As a licensed Minnesota criminal defense law firm, Leverson Budke is a ‘top 100’ trial lawyer firm, defending those charged with criminal offenses.
With their vast knowledge on drunk driving, this formidable legal team are sought after for their DWI and criminal defense skills and knowledge. With such vast legal experience, getting such a legal team on your side as soon after the crash as possible, is the best advice you can possibly have.
