DRUNK AND IMPAIRED DRIVING ACCIDENTS IN KANSAS

Many car accidents occur each year in Kansas due to drunk or impaired drivers. The problem is not just a local one, however. Unfortunately, impaired driving accidents are a growing national problem.

In 2012, more than 10,000 people were killed as a result of an impaired driving accident in the United States. Fatalities due to drunk or impaired driving accounted for nearly one-third of all traffic deaths for the year. A person dies as a result of a drunk driving accident in the United States every 51 minutes, and around 30 people die every day as a result of an accident caused by an impaired driver.

Those who are at the greatest risk of being involved in an accident due to impaired or drunk driving include the young, motorcyclists and drivers with prior DWI convictions. Young people are at the greatest risk of involvement at all levels of blood alcohol content. Drivers who cause a fatal accident due to drunk driving are more likely to have had a prior DWI conviction. For motorcyclists, those between the ages of 40 to 44 had the highest percentage of deaths due to having a blood alcohol concentration higher than .08 percent.

Despite tightened criminal laws to prosecute drunk drivers, the problem of impairment-related accidents continues to be a major one. When people are seriously injured or even killed in an accident caused by a drunk driver, the victims or their families may be able to hold the driver responsible by filing a personal injury or wrongful death lawsuit. Drunk drivers may be held both criminally and civilly liable for their conduct in separate actions. Victims or families may be able to recover damages for their economic and noneconomic losses suffered as a result of the accident.

Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, "Impaired Driving: Get the Facts", November 11, 2014