Indiana Injury Lawyer Blog

Indiana's drunk driving laws have failed to pass muster with the federal administration. The administration has announced that several states, including Indiana, will be penalized with a lack of federal funding for highway safety projects, as a result of their failure to pass stringent laws against intoxicated driving.

According to an assessment of the drunk driving laws passed by all states by the Federal Highway Administration, as many as two thirds of all states have lax drunk driving laws that do not make the cut. The federal administration believes that these states, including Indiana, have not complied with mandates to reduce the incidence of intoxicated driving.

In Indiana’s case, there were changes made to the drunk driving laws back in 2004, and under the new laws, the state no longer requires a person convicted of driving under the influence of alcohol to perform a certain number of hours of community service as an alternative to prison time. The federal administration is not happy with that changed law.

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New research by the National Transportation Safety Board confirms what every Indiana personal injury lawyer already knows - intoxicated or drunk drivers are the number one cause of wrong way driving accidents across the country. The Board is using the results of the study to promote a recommendation that all 50 states enact laws requiring mandatory installation of ignition interlock devices in all vehicles of DUI offenders, including persons convicted for the very first time.

According to the National Transportation Safety Board study, intoxicated drivers were linked to as many as 69% of all wrong way driving accidents. The study was based on 1,566 accidents that occurred between 2004 and 2009. The National Transportation Safety Board also analyzed at least nine wrong way-driving accidents that it investigated.

The Board found that in about 59% of these accidents, the wrong way drivers were driving with alcohol levels that were more than twice the legal limit of .08%. In 10% of the accidents, the drivers were driving with a blood alcohol level that was between .08% and .14%.

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According to a study, the number of DUI arrests involving women has increased by 36% over the last decade. Men comprise the majority of all DUI arrests in the country, but women have been catching up.

According to the study, the factors influencing male and female drinking are extremely different. Many DUI arrests involving women, seem to be linked to drinking in the daytime while caring for children. This has led sociologists to speculate that this increase in DUI arrests involving women has to do with parenting-related stresses. The study noted that the majority of women who were arrested for DUI are the primary caregivers for their children. The Department of Transportation will focus on tackling this safety problem during its annual holiday enforcement campaign.

Another drunk driving-related study however has fewer surprises for Indiana personal injury lawyers. The study by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration finds that parents, who drive under the influence, are more likely to pass on such destructive driving practices to their children. When a teenage motorist has a mother who drives under the influence, his or her risks of driving under the influence are higher than for teenage drivers whose mothers do not drive under the influence. Approximately 18% of teenagers whose mothers drove intoxicated also drove intoxicated, compared to 11% of teens whose mothers did not drive under the influence. In the case of the fathers, the impact seems to even greater. Teenage motorists with fathers who drove under the influence were much more likely to drive under the influence, than teens whose fathers did not drive under the influence of alcohol. The percentage of teen DUIs whose fathers also drove under the influence was 21.4%

Continue reading "Women Are the New Drunk Driving Challenge for Law Enforcement" »

A new study indicates to Indiana medical malpractice lawyers that a surgeon’s risk of making potentially deadly errors increases not just when he's performing a surgical procedure under the influence of alcohol, but also over the next 24 hours.

The researchers studied a group of six surgeons. These surgeons consumed alcohol one night, and the next day, were placed in a laparoscopic simulator. The simulator allows them to “perform” laparoscopic procedures. The researchers specifically chose laparoscopy because these procedures typically require a heightened level of visual-spatial abilities and cognitive abilities. Before performing the surgery, the surgeons were tested for alcohol, and only 5% tested positive. Doctors were then tested at 9 PM, 1 PM, and 4 PM.

The researchers found that the risk of surgical errors after a night of drinking was especially high during the 1 PM slot.

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In 2005, the economic cost of accidents, including medical expenses and lost income from days off from work, totaled a staggering $99 billion. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention which came upon that estimate, however believes that the $99 billion tag could actually be much lower than the actual amount. For instance, that estimate doesn't include increased expenses in the form of higher insurance premiums that a motorist may have to pay after an accident. When you factor in these costs, the actual economic cost of accidents in 2005 could cross $200 billion.

It's data from 2005, but in spite of the five year gap, there's no reason for Indiana personal injury lawyers to believe that accident costs for 2009 or 2010, would be significantly lower. If you take the analysis methods adopted by the CDC, you are likely to find billions of dollars of economic losses caused by traffic accidents every year.

Continue reading "Annual Cost of Auto Accidents Equals $500 for Every US Motorist" »

Indiana’s icy roads and hazardous conditions received a lot of attention recently. Unfortunately, it was the consumption of alcohol by a careless driver that may have resulted in death and serious injuries for several people on Indiana State Road 37 this past week. The drivers and passengers were involved in a four-car accident that sent several to the hospital and one to the funeral home.

Continue reading "Alcohol May Be Involved In Indianapolis Accident" »