Impaired Driving Policy Changes Aim to Decrease Accidents and Save Lives

After reviewing some of the data below the CDC has gathered a list of impaired driving policy changes that everyone hopes will save lives and reduce the number of impaired drivers.

Every day, millions of drivers choose to drive after consuming alcohol or drugs, putting everyone on the highway at risk of a serious accident or even death. Data compiled by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on impaired driving shows that though efforts of implementing impaired driving policy changes to decrease impaired driving have had an impact, we still have a long way to go before our roads are safe.

In 2010, the CDC found:

• 112 million adults in the US reported they have driven a car while under the influence
• Only 1.4 million of those adults were arrested for impaired driving
• 10,228 people died on our highways, in alcohol related crashes
• 211 of those fatalities were children under the age of 14

Statistics show hard truths about impaired driving including:

• Every 48 minutes someone died in an alcohol related crash, equally nearly 30 preventable deaths each day
• Impaired drivers who are involved in fatal highway accidents are nearly eight times more likely to have at least one previous conviction for drunk driving
• Impaired drivers who are involved in a fatal highway accident are nearly four times more likely to have at least three previous impaired driving convictions

(https://www.cdc.gov/motorvehiclesafety/impaired_driving/impaired-drv_factsheet.html)

New Impaired Driving Policy Considerations for the Prevention of Impaired Driving

The Centers for Disease Control have gathered a list of impaired driving policies that could stem the number of impaired drivers on the highways, and decrease the number of drug and alcohol related crashes and fatalities in Ohio and throughout the roadways across the nation.

These New Policies include:

• Mandatory Ignition Interlock Devices for all individuals convicted of impaired driving. These devices prevent a vehicle from starting if the driver has alcohol in on their breath. They have been shown to decrease the re-arrest of offenders by some 67 percent, thereby decreasing the risk of impaired driving crashes and fatalities
• Increase the implementation of sobriety checkpoints across the country. Sobriety checkpoints have resulted in an average decrease of 20 percent in drug and alcohol related accidents and fatalities
• Keeping the minimum legal drinking age at 21 and implementing a nationwide zero tolerance law for drivers under the age of 21.

Legal Help for Victims of Impaired Driving Highway Accidents

At The Cochran Firm, all of our highly-experienced attorneys are dedicated to providing quality legal representation to injured people, their families, and the ordinary citizen, just as Johnnie Cochran envisioned when he founded the firm over 40 years ago. If you or a loved one are seeking personal, dedicated and aggressive legal representation in the wake of a highway accident, please contact The Cochran Firm today by filling out our online form, or call (513) 381-HURT.