In the U.S., deaths from driving while drunk is declining; however, a life is lost to drunk driving every 52 minutes. Driving while under the influence of drugs or alcohol is illegal in all states and usually referred to as driving under the influence (DUI), driving while intoxicated (DWI), or operating while intoxicated (OWI), depending upon the state where you live. All of these offenses are criminal.
With so many rideshare options available at the touch of a button, it is unclear why anyone chooses to drive while intoxicated when they are putting their own life and the lives of others at risk. If you or a loved one was injured by someone who was driving under the influence, you should consider hiring a drunk driving accident lawyer to represent you.
Ali Awad, also known as the CEO Lawyer, has experience negotiating with insurance companies and fighting on behalf of his clients in the courtroom. The CEO Lawyer knows what it takes to find success for himself and his clients. He has built a booming business out of earning his clients millions of dollars in collective settlements and jury awards.
The CEO Lawyer has over one million followers on social media because he has earned the reputation of being a no-nonsense source of sound legal advice. If you have questions about a drunk driving case, call our injury and accident attorneys at (833) 254-2923.
How Can a Drunk Driving Accident Lawyer Help Me?
Even though drunk driving accidents are on the decline overall, collisions happen with regularity, and someone loses their life due to a drunk driving accident every hour. Drunk driving is a criminal offense, and the perpetrator will face hefty fines, penalties, revocation of their driver’s license, and even jail time for their transgression.
If you are the victim of a drunk driver, an experienced attorney can help you recover a settlement from the insurance company to compensate you for your medical bills and expenses, damages to your personal property, and the pain and suffering you experienced as a result of the crash.
An experienced personal injury attorney can help you understand all of your options for compensation recovery. Some states even allow you to seek punitive damages in addition to general recovery compensation. The CEO Lawyer has experience formulating winning legal strategies to ensure you are receiving the best offer from the insurance company.
Drunk Driving Leads to Serious Accidents
As a victim of a drunk driver, you are aware that driving under the influence can lead to serious accidents. It is illegal to operate a motor vehicle while impaired in all 50 U.S. states. The legal threshold for impairment is a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.08 percent or higher. Some states may even charge you with driving under the influence if the arresting officer determines that you are legally impaired, even if your blood alcohol content is less than 0.08, or if you are under the legal age to consume alcohol. Sometimes these cases are thrown out of court, but the arresting officer knows that it is more important to remove an impaired driver from the roads in order to keep the public safe.
This legal threshold of 0.08 percent may look different for different people. Your gender, weight, and the time in which the alcohol was consumed will have an impact on your blood alcohol content. For example, a person who weighs 150 pounds and a person who weighs 250 pounds can consume the same amount and type of alcohol in a one-hour period have two different blood alcohol levels.
How Does a Law Enforcement Officer Determine Drunk Driving?
Law enforcement is trained to detect drunk driving, and there is no way to “outsmart” the cops when it comes to driving while under the influence. The threshold for impairment is 0.08 percent or higher blood alcohol content. Still, many states allow officers to arrest a person for driving while intoxicated even if their BAC is under the legal limit if they observe them handling the vehicle erratically.
There are three primary ways that an officer determines whether a person has had too many drinks to remain behind the wheel.
The first is through observation. Law enforcement is trained to spot drunk drivers by looking for certain indicators from drivers, such as vehicles swerving or failing to maintain their lane, driving too fast or too slow for traffic, or ignoring traffic signals. Once the officer pulls you over, they will observe you and your behavior for signs of intoxication. Red eyes, dilated pupils, slurred speech, an odor of alcohol, and a lack of coordination can indicate intoxication.
A second way of determining whether a person is driving drunk is the field sobriety test. The Standard Field Sobriety Test is administered by law enforcement in order to determine whether or not a person is intoxicated behind the wheel. This test was developed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and has three standard procedures:
- The Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus: During this test, the officer will ask the potentially impaired driver to follow an object, like a pencil, slowly with their eyes from side to side. If the person cannot follow the object or if their eyeballs appear to “jerk” distinctly, it may be a sign of intoxication.
- The Walk and Turn Around Test: During this test, a law enforcement officer will ask the potentially impaired driver to walk nine steps, turn around, and walk nine steps back toward the officer. While the subject is walking, the officer will look for certain clues that the person is intoxicated, such as beginning the test before the instructions are finished, failing to keep balance, not taking the correct number of steps, or using their arms to help keep them balanced.
- Standing on One Leg: This test is self-explanatory. A law enforcement officer will examine the potentially impaired subject to see if they are able to stand on one leg without putting their foot down, using their arms, or hopping to help them balance.
While this test can be fairly accurate at determining intoxication, it may not be able to tell you how intoxicated a person is, so other tests are necessary. Furthermore, a disabled person or a person with certain neurological conditions may not perform this test with accuracy even if they are 100% sober.
The final and most accurate test is the breathalyzer test. The breath alcohol test, or breathalyzer test, determines your blood alcohol content by measuring the alcohol content of your expelled breath.
What Type of Damages Can a Drunk Driving Accident Attorney Help Me Recover?
If you are involved in an accident with a drunk driver, you are entitled to compensation from that driver or their insurance company for injuries and damages. A drunk driving accident attorney can help you to recover a settlement in civil court. The drunk driver will already be facing criminal charges for driving under the influence and fines that can total between $7,000 and $10,000–not including the money that will be paid to you for your injuries and damages.
A drunk driving accident attorney will work to recover compensatory and punitive damages for you after an accident. Compensatory damages are awarded to most car accident victims, regardless of whether or not alcohol played a role in the accident. Punitive damages are unique to cases in which the court wishes to further penalize the at-fault driver for serious negligence. Punitive damages are designed to act as a deterrent to the at-fault driver.
- Compensatory damages refer to all the damages, actual and general that you incurred because of an accident. Compensatory damages are designed to help you recover the financial loss you suffered because of the accident. Types of these damages are:
- Medical expenses: Both past and future medical expenses can be recovered. Be sure to keep documentation of all your medical bills and consult with an attorney to determine future medical costs.
- Loss of income and loss of earning capacity: If you lost wages or lost your potential to earn a living due to an injury or disability incurred due to the accident, you are entitled to compensation from the at-fault driver.
- Pain, suffering, and mental anguish: These damages are referred to as general damages, and your attorney will ask for compensation to repay you for loss of enjoyment of life, mental health impairments, and any other interference with your everyday life after you have been the victim of a drunk driver.
- Punitive Damages are designed to be a deterrent to prevent drunk drivers from repeating their mistakes in the future. In some states, there is no cap on punitive damages that can be won in a drunk driving case. Furthermore, some states allow the at-fault party’s driving record to be part of official evidence. Courts have determined that a jury has a right to review a defendant’s previous record in order to make a fully informed decision about whether or not a driver should have to pay punitive damages to the plaintiff.
When Should I Hire a DUI Accident Lawyer?
If you were involved in a minor crash with no injuries, little damage, and no evidence that the other driver was impaired, you might consider handling the claim yourself. However, if a drunk driver has hit you, you want an experienced DUI accident lawyer to represent you and your interests in negotiations with the insurance company and to determine whether or not you are entitled to punitive damages.
The first thing to do after you are injured in an accident is to seek medical treatment. You need documentation of your injuries, and some injuries do not appear immediately, so you will want a qualified medical professional to examine you fully. Minor injuries can turn into deadly injuries if not diagnosed and treated properly.
Next, you will want to contact a personal injury attorney that specializes in drunk driving accidents. It is especially important to hire a DUI accident lawyer in a drunk driving case because the attorney you hire to represent you will have experience dealing with insurance companies that represent drunk drivers. Most personal injury attorneys offer free consultations. During this talk, tell your attorney everything you can remember about the accident, including details about the other driver’s impairment.
Your attorney can help you develop a winning legal strategy to recover the maximum compensation available for your injuries, damages, and pain and suffering after you have been involved in an accident with a drunk driver.
The CEO Lawyer and His Team of Drunk Driving Accident Attorneys Are Here to Help
Ali Awad, the CEO Lawyer, is the managing attorney of one of the fastest-growing law firms in the United States. His team has a proven success record of over 99.5%.
The CEO Lawyer is well-known in the Atlanta area for building a massively successful law firm in just three short years. Ali Awad has over a million followers on social media that trust him for his simplified, no-nonsense legal advice. His team of experienced attorneys is well-versed in personal injury law and is ready to fight stubborn insurance companies on your behalf. The CEO Lawyer knows how to spot a lowball offer and will never settle for less than you deserve.
You may feel overwhelmed during these moments, but attorney Ali Awad, the CEO lawyer, is here to stand up for your legal rights. Arm yourself with the legal representation you need to get a fair shake at the settlement you deserve. When calamity strikes, you will want a driven and inspired attorney like Ali Awad in your corner. He and the CEO Lawyers team will fight aggressively to find the evidence and legal reasoning needed to give your claim a high chance of success.
Call the CEO Lawyer Personal Injury Law Firm for an initial free consultation of your case. An experienced attorney can answer all of your questions and begin the process of winning back the money you deserve in your drunk driving accident case. Contact us online or call now at (833)254-2923.
