Washington Injury Law Blog

A recent national survey by federal safety officials on alcohol and drug use by drivers found 16% of drivers tested on weekend nights were positive for drugs, including marijuana, cocaine and prescription sedatives.  Scary!  But really, you kind of suspected this anyway.  If you’re driving on a Friday or Saturday night don’t you already expect a fair amount of the drivers may be under the influence of alcohol or drugs. 

There is some good news, the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration survey for 2007 found 2.2% of weekend drivers were over the alcohol limit of 0.08%.  This is down from 1996 where the weekend drunk drivers were 4.4% of all drivers.  Alcohol related fatal car accidents has also gone down by half in the last decade.

The survey also found that men are 42% more likely to be a drunk driver than women.  Early morning hours, 1 a.m. to 3 a.m., was the time drivers were most likely to be drunk.  This is a bit obvious, but confirmed by the survey none the less.

Many of my Kirkland car accident clients have been hit by drunk drivers.  My clients often suffer serious injuries while the drunk walks away injury free.  Although, in the end hopefully the drunk driver is held accountable for his negligence and recklessness in causing the accident.   

You might think that if you have an injury case involving a drunk driver you’re case must be better than most.  And yes on its face it is, but the insurance company will likely admit to liability for causing the accident and your injuries.  An injury case is divided into two legal parts, liability and damages.  The liability part is where it is determine who is at fault for causing the accident, i.s. who was negligent.  The damages part is where it’s determine how badly you were injured, i.e. medical bills, lost wages, out of packet expense, physical pain endured, and mental suffering endured.

When the insurance company for the drunk admits fault, then as a general rule you don’t get to talk about what caused the accident in any lawsuit that may follow.  Shockingly, judges routinely order me to not talk about or ever mention my client was hit by a drunk.  Insurance company lawyers argue and judges often agree, that it is too prejudicial to the drunk driver to mention that he/she was drunk when fault has been admitted.  They fear the jury will punish the drunk driver for driving drunk alone and ingnore how badly you were or weren’t injured.  I believe this under estimates the capacity and intelligence of jurors. 

Where does that leave you the injured person?  You are left only with the ability to talk about the extent of your injuries and all you had to go through during recovery.  There is an exception for people who have suffered emotional trauma as a result of being hit by a drunk.  If you have received mental health counseling to deal with your trauma from being hit by a drunk driver, then it may be possible to mention the fact that the driver was drunk to the jury.  It depends on the specific facts of your situation and you should speak with an experienced personal injury attorney who has handled drunk driver car accidents in the past.

For now, when driving on Friday or Saturday night keep in mind that a fair number of the other cars on the road are likely being driven by people under the influence.  Drive safe!

Max J. Meyers, Esq.