Drunk driving is a problem at both the state and national levels

How many people get one or a few drinks in their system and then get behind the wheel of a car? According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it is well over 100 million people a year. With so many people making this decision, it is amazing that more people in New York and elsewhere are not injured or killed in drunk driving-related incidents.

The drunk driving problem is something that has seen some small improvements over the years, but not much. In 2014, 111 million people admitted to driving after consuming alcoholic beverages, which is quite a bit less than the 161 million who admitted to the same in 2006. But, still, it is too many people putting themselves and others at risk.

In the United States, someone dies in an alcohol-related car crash every 51 minutes. That totals 28 people a day. In the year 2015, just over 10,000 people lost their lives to drunk drivers — 209 of them were children, ages 0 to 14. Many more individuals have suffered injuries in collisions caused by impaired drivers.

New York residents who have been injured or lost loved ones in drunk driving-related accidents may be entitled to seek compensation for their losses. They can do this by filing civil claims against those individuals deemed responsible. If, with the assistance of legal counsel, victims or their surviving family members are able to successfully establish negligence against responsible parties, the court may award monetary judgments for any and all recoverable damages — whether they are economic or non-economic in nature.

Source: cdc.gov, “Impaired Driving: Get the Facts“, Accessed on Nov. 8, 2017