Many Connecticut drivers live in fear of repeat offender drunk drivers, those drivers who have been convicted in the past of drunk driving and yet continue to get behind the wheel while impaired. Those drivers do indeed represent a threat to the safety of everyone on the roads. However, a recent report found that most drunk drivers involved in fatal accidents in Connecticut had no record of DUI arrests in the decade before the accident. This finding raises a possibility that may be even scarier than the thought of multiple offenders: Many of the drivers in these fatal accidents may have driven while drunk but were not found out until the time they killed themselves or others in an accident.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, there were 298 fatalities in impaired driving-related accidents in Connecticut over the years 2010-2012. The New Haven Register took a closer look at these accidents and found that only about 6 percent of the drunk drivers responsible for these accidents had prior DUI records.
The activist group Mothers Against Drunk Driving estimates that before being arrested for drunk driving for the first time, a driver has already driven while drunk an average of 80 times.
It is a devastating thing for a family to lose a loved one in a fatal car accident. When that accident was caused by a drunk or otherwise negligent driver, the family may seek compensation through a wrongful death lawsuit. A Connecticut attorney with experience in wrongful death lawsuits can counsel families so that they understand how the law may apply to their case and advise them on their legal options.
Source: New Haven Register, "Most at fault in fatal Connecticut DUI crashes had no prior record," Charlotte Adinolfi and Michelle Tuccitto Sullo, Feb. 1, 2014
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