What makes the road such a hazardous place to be?
It’s hard to know where to start first. A change in the weather can compromise your ability to see beyond your car and leave you in a bad spot once it gets dark. A broken light can reduce your peripheral vision and increase the risk of someone bumping into you. A stalling engine can leave your car in the middle of nowhere. Even then, some of the most devastating incidents that happen on the open road are within our power to stop. Drunk and distracted driving are rampant across American highways and interstates, causing major damage and ending lives every single day.
When you find yourself on the receiving end of a drunk driving incident…criminal defense attorneys are available to help.
Criminal defense attorneys have their work cut out for them. In any given day there are car crashes, accusations of drunk driving and distracted driving requiring their unique skillset to resolve. Every single day people will drive drunk over 300,000 times. Despite this, a mere 4,000 will be arrested on average. That means the possibility of encountering a drunk driver on the way to pick up your children from school. While there are steps you can take to reduce this probability, sometimes even the most prepared driver will still find themselves contacting criminal defense attorneys.
Drunk driving is just that common. It’s estimated the average drunk driver has driven drunk 80 times before their first arrest, meaning the first encounter you have very well might not be the last. Today over 10% of licensed drivers are under the age of 21. Despite not being of legal drinking age they are responsible for nearly 20% of fatal alcohol-related crashes. Drunk driving denotes not just driving under the influence of alcohol, but under the influence of any illegal drug. Back in 2012 over 10 million people reported driving under the influence of over-the-counter medication, illegal drugs and legal drugs alike.
Distracted driving is another issue that can require the aid of criminal defense attorneys. At any given daylight moment across America it’s estimated over 600,000 drivers are attempting to use cell phones while behind the wheel. This term also expands to include any sort of ‘sub-manual task’, such as changing the radio dial, talking to someone in the backseat or texting on a phone. Distracted driving is so insidious, and so deadly, it has caused entire awareness campaigns and changes in local law to come into play. Criminal defense attorneys are not just familiar with state DUI cases, but distracted driving incidents that cause serious injury.
Depending on where you live the rules and regulations for driving under the influence change. The state of Oregon, for example, actively prohibits the operation of a motor vehicle by a driver with a .08% or higher BAC (or blood alcohol concentration). This is a common law in most states, with the exception of Utah. Utah recently changed its BAC law to .05% in response to rampant drunk driving incidents. Criminal matters can be difficult for you to parse out after a car crash, particularly with medical bills and insurance claims needing your immediate attention first. When you need help, a DUI attorney is available to give you options.
The function of a defense lawyer is to represent you during these rough times. Even classifying your case as the result of drunk driving takes additional work that is extremely difficult for an individual to accomplish alone. To complete criminal charges your criminal defense attorneys can interview witnesses, gather license plate numbers and cooperate with local law enforcement to support your case. Drunk driving is only becoming more common from here, despite increasing awareness, and the need for the criminal defense attorney is going to rise with it.
Who do you turn to when you need help with the aftermath of a drunk driving incident? Visit your local law firm and ask to see a criminal defense attorney today.