State police in Virginia (VA) are warning drivers that Halloween is one of the deadliest night of the year and are promising to step up DUI patrols and sobriety checkpoints during the 2011 holiday. “Impaired drivers put lives at risk. Be smart this Halloween and don’t be one of the statistics. If you plan to drink then make sure you designate a driver,” said VSP Superintendent Col, W. Steven Flaherty.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 48 percent of all highway fatalities across the nation on Halloween night in 2009 involved a driver or a motorcycle rider with a blood alcohol concentration of .08 or higher. Across an entire year, more than 11,000 people are killed in drunk driving accidents in the United States.
In Virginia, six people lost their lives in fatal traffic crashes during the 2009 and 2010 Halloween holiday weekends. Alcohol was a factor in four of those crashes. As experienced Virginia accident injury attorneys, my colleagues are alarmed by these statistics.
The consequences of driving under the influence of alcohol can be serious both for drivers and victims. In September 2011, I reported on a man from Virginia Beach who killed a couple while driving drunk, ended up in jail and on the wrong end of a $200,000 civil lawsuit. In another recent case handled by our law firm, our clients were passengers in a vehicle rear-ended by a drunk driver. We helped the victims receive a total of $110,000 in settlements.
DM