Posts Tagged ‘alcohol’

As part of GJEL’s state-by-state drunk driving laws and driving fatality research, Steve Gursten, a partner at Michigan Auto Law, recently shared these updated statistics about drunk driving and auto accidents in Michigan. Steve has been very active in promoting efforts to reduce drunk driving and car accidents in Michigan. This guest blog post analyzes car accidents and wrongful deaths from 2009, the latest year with available data.

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You would never get behind the wheel of your car drunk. But you would probably be more likely to get on a bicycle after one too many drinks. At least that was the case for five cyclists arrested for cycling under the influence near Los Angeles yesterday. The arrested cyclists, all between the ages of 18 and 22, were riding with 15 other cyclists when a California Highway Patrol Officer witnessed a member of the group crash into the pavement at 1:30 am.

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Each year, holiday weekends are the most vulnerable to DUI arrests and accidents. Each year, for example, about 40 people are killed and 2,100 people are injured in accidents over Christmas weekend, according to the California Statewide Integrated Traffic Records System. Of those, 23 of the deaths and 431 of the injuries resulted from alcohol-related crashes. The numbers are nearly identical for New Years Eve weekend. To improve this daunting statistic, major California cities are joining others nationwide in offering free public transportation on New Years Eve. See what cities are providing free cab and public transportation fares this holiday season.

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Like we’re back in school, 34.4 million Americans, including more than 4 million Californians will join me this Friday night to travel more than 50 miles to a vacation getaway for the long Labor Day weekend. In California and across the country, this holiday weekend’s travel predictions mark a ten percent increase over 2009 numbers, which indicates that it will be marked by more traffic, and likely more accidents, than last year.

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Two weeks ago, a Greyhound bus carrying 31 passengers collided with an overturned SUV near Fresno, California. The accident, which killed six and injured dozens, was tragic and proved the necessity of stricter highway safety regulations. Though Greyhound has had its share of tragic bus accidents over the past decade, new information indicates that this crash was likely not the driver’s fault. A coroner announced today that autopsy results indicate that the driver of the overturned Chevrolet Trailblazer was drunk when her car capsized in the middle of the highway.

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We wrote in May that California lawmakers were considering a bill that would end a liability loophole for adults responsible for teen drinking. Currently, California is one of only three states that don’t hold “social hosts” accountable when a teenager is killed by illegal alcohol consumption. But last Thursday, the California state Senate unanimously passed a bill that would hold eliminate the liability loophole if Governor Schwarzenegger signs it in to law.

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Many ethical issues related to alcohol consumption are notoriously shaded in gray. Ideally, it would be up to the consumer to set his or her own limits to avoid drinking dangerously. But since so many in our culture are destructive drinkers, some need an extra line of defense in the form of a bartender or party host refusing that last drink to a patron or a driver. That’s why California lawmakers are pushing to close a state loophole that lets bartenders and hosts off the hook for alcohol-related injuries or wrongful death claims.

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