Any news of drunk driving prevention measures is big news. One example is found in Utah Representative David Butterfield, who has become a great advocate in protecting his constituents by pushing to discontinue DUI checkpoints all together in the state and replacing them with more patrols. According to The Salt Lake Tribune, Rep. Butterfield believes more patrols will be a greater deterrent than DUI checkpoints. As it stands now, in order to utilize a checkpoint, officers are required to receive a written approval from a judge containing the location and hours of operation. On the other hand, in order to implement more patrols, no written approval or announcement of location or hours is required. This is suspected to lead to more determent. However, statistics have mixed results in either case leading to the need for more research.
The Facts
How big is our drunk driving problem in the United States? According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than 30 people die in vehicular accidents involving alcohol consumption every day. The following included by the CDC is a modified list of more facts to keep in mind in regards to drinking and driving:
- In 2009, 10,839 people were killed in alcohol-impaired driving crashes, basically 1/3 of all traffic-related deaths that happen throughout the nation.
- Of the 1,314 traffic deaths among children ages 0 to 14 years in 2009, 181 (14%) involved an alcohol-impaired driver.
- Of the 181 child passengers ages 14 and younger who died in alcohol-impaired driving crashes in 2009, nearly half of the number were in the car of the person who had consumed the alcohol.
- In 2009, over 1.4 million drivers were arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol or narcotics. That’s less than one percent of the 147 million self-reported episodes of alcohol-impaired driving among U.S. adults each year.
If you should ever become a victim of a drunk driving related accident, there is information available to assist you in any legal issues you may have incurred from the incident. The Christensen Law Firm is an advocate for protecting the legal rights of our community. Our very own attorney, Ken Christensen, has published a whole library of free accident books that provides the community with legal information for those first few days following an accident. For a free copy of an accident book, call 1-800 LAW BOOK.