Car accidents happen on a daily basis. They are awful for all participants, including the eye witnesses. One of the main reasons for car accidents nowadays is driving under influence of alcohol or drugs, which is also known as DUI. This can also mean drug-impaired driving when the case is specifically related to the usage of drugs and no other type of influence.
Although there are countless campaigns, awareness-raising movements and commercials that suggest a person should never even think about getting on the driver seat while under the influence of something impairing, people still do it, and they do it often.
In today’s article we’re talking about these types of accidents, how common they are, what you should do in case you find yourself in one, and we’ll take a look at some interesting statistics as well. So, if this is what you’re interested in learning about, feel free to stay with us until the end.
Let’s take a look at some of the statistics
Now these numbers will probably shock you, but that’s important when we want to raise awareness. In the United States for example, and this is only for a small part of our entire world, about fifty people lose their lives in car accidents which are co-related with alcohol or drugs. On average, about one person every thirty or so minutes, which is a terrifying number. And, this statistic only shows us the accidents in which someone ends up with fatal consequences. There are far more happening in which people survive but are horribly injured.
In 2018, about thirty percent of all vehicle traffic accidents that ended up fatal were cases of alcohol-impaired driving. As we go into each new year, the number seems to decrease, and this is probably due to all the efforts that governments are putting out in order to drop this number as low as they can. However, it’s still high, and it still needs to be reduced drastically, or ideally brought to zero.
So this answers our question pretty straight forward. Are DUI car accidents common? Yes, they are a lot more common than they need to be. Before we continue onwards with the statistics and facts, it’s important to mention that you’ll need the help of a professional in case you ever get into a DUI car accident, regardless if it was your fault or not. Bbsattorneys.com is a website where you can learn more about this.
DUI Accidents involving underage cases (no driver’s license)
It’s hard to decide whether these cases are worse than the ones in which adults are driving under influence. Teens are usually famous for doing bad decisions that most of the times end up badly. And, the worst combination is an underage, unexperienced driver, trying to impress someone with their parent’s car, so they’re driving under influence with other passengers. Sometimes they get the police’s attention so the authorities prevent something fatal from happening, but sometimes, unfortunately, that doesn’t happen, and fate chooses the worse outcome.
According to the statistics, the number of drunk teen drivers is also decreasing as authorities are trying to control the situation even more, but it is still a huge issue. While we’re at numbers and statistics, the amount of such cases decreased by fifty-four percent from 1991. This probably has a lot to do with the evolution of laws, technology and overall control over what’s happening on the roads, which is a great thing.
But, the story doesn’t end so happily, because the following numbers will really shake you and help you realize how often these things are happening. High school teenagers, according to the facts, are drinking and driving more than two million times per month. This applies to teenagers across the entire globe. You can only imagine how busy the authorities are working on preventing this as it keeps happening so frequently all the times. Now that we know how common these things are, let’s take a look at why they are happening and how this all can be prevented.
Why DUI Car accidents are so common worldwide?
The number one reason is lack of self-responsibility and underestimating the effects of alcohol or drugs. We all like to think that we’re the toughest person out there, and that a few beers can’t stop us from driving perfectly back home, even when we have passengers with us. However, that’s obviously not the case.
Another reason is that people want to save money by not taking a cab back from a party to their home, but they don’t realize what’s about to come will cost them a lot more than fifty dollars, which is not even the real price for a cab, it’s much lower.
The third reason is the “encouraging” effect alcohol has on some people. It makes you think you are unstoppable, but in fact what it does is it gives you a false perception of life while you are under its effect. Not to mention drugs, they are even worse.
And finally, the last reason is people never being close to experiencing or at least seeing something like this in their life, such as a fatal DUI car accident. They think it’s impossible for something so unfortunate to happen to them, when the reality is completely different. This is why campaigns and advertisements help so much, because they give a real, or sometimes even exaggerated picture of what might happen to someone while driving under the influence.
Conclusion
DUI Car accidents are unfortunately very common and there are ways to prevent them from happening. However, nothing is more effective than you making the change and starting from yourself as a responsible individual. If you are not so careful about yourself, at least keep in mind that you are endangering the lives of those who are traveling with you in the vehicle. In today’s article we provided some facts and statistics that may help you understand how serious of a problem this is in our modern society, hopefully raising awareness and preventing it in the future.