On behalf of Dozier Law Firm, LLC posted in Drunk Driving Accidents on Thursday, May 28, 2015. It is no secret that driving under the influence is one of the most dangerous actions a person can take, both in regards to their own safety and those around them. States all over the nation are taking a stand against this irresponsible behavior, marking habitual drunk drivers with special license plates. While some states may make their markings painfully obvious with a bright color, Georgia took a more subtle approach, using special serial numbers that only officers would know to look out for. These plates were first put in use in 2006, and since then, fatal accidents caused by drunk drivers has reduced by 35 percent. While no one can say for certain that these plates were the main contributor to this statistic, it seems that officers who are able to locate habitual drunk drivers and stop them…

Alcohol has different effects on the body according to the amount of alcohol that an individual consumes. While Georgia motorists know that this is why drunk driving is dangerous, many not understand what the effects are and when they start to happen. Individuals feel relaxed, have changes in mood, experience some loss in judgment and feel slightly warm when their blood alcohol concentration reaches .02 percent. This affects their driving performance by reducing the ability to track moving objects and do two tasks simultaneously. When their BAC reaches .05 percent, individuals usually feel good, exhibit exaggerated behavior, lose control of small muscles, experience reduced alertness, become less shy and have impaired judgment. The effects of this on driving include difficulty steering as well as reduced coordination, response to emergency situations and ability to track moving objects. Individuals with a BAC of .08 percent experience poor muscle coordination, trouble detecting danger,…

Georgia residents may be interested to learn of a recent study that found a sharp decline in drunk driving fatal accidents following a modest tax increase on alcohol. The study's authors reviewed data from Illinois, both prior to and after the state had increased its taxes on beer, wine and liquor. Illinois increased alcohol taxes in 2009, with the tax on beer increased by 4.6 cents for each gallon, on wine by 66 cents and on liquor by $4.05 per gallon. Following the tax hike, Illinois experienced a 26 percent decline in the number of drunk driving fatalities. The decline was most stark for younger drivers, who demonstrated a fall of 37 percent, while extremely drunk drivers demonstrated a decline of 25 percent. The study controlled for other factors, such as weather and road conditions, in order to determine whether the decrease was due to the tax change itself. The authors reported…

Safety on Georgia roads can be negatively impacted by the actions of just one drunk driver, and the problem of impaired driving continues to be a concern on a national level. Statistics indicate that individuals in the United States perish at a rate of one person every 51 minutes in car accidents that involve a drunk driver. Although a combination of increased education and stiffer penalties has been used nationwide in an effort to reduce DUI accidents, the problem with impaired individuals getting behind the wheel remains a significant one. A large percentage of drunk driving accidents are attributed to younger drivers. More than 80 percent of DUI fatalities in 2012 involved impaired drivers who were 44 years old or younger. Among this group, the greatest concentration of incidents involved those between the ages of 21 and 24, while the percentages declined for those between the ages of 35 and 44. However,…

Drinking and driving is a serious problem in Georgia and the rest of the United States because on average one person dies every 51 minutes due to an alcohol-impaired driver. While nearly 30 people die because of these accidents a day, the financial consequences of drunk driving are large too. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, drunk driving crashes cost more than $59 billion a year when totaled. Some people are more at risk for operating a vehicle while under the influence of alcohol than others. Twenty-nine percent of motorcyclists who died in car accidents in 2012 had a blood alcohol concentration of .08 percent or higher, which is above the legal limit. Almost half of these motorcyclists were 40 years old or older, and motorcycle drivers between the ages of 40 and 44 are most likely to drive while intoxicated. Regardless of BAC, younger drivers are more…

On June 8, a 40-year-old man was injured in a two-vehicle accident on Interstate 75 in Bibb County. Authorities said the accident took place near the exit ramp for Sardis Church Road shortly before 3 a.m. Reportedly, alcohol might have been a factor in the crash. A 49-year-old man was driving a 2013 Toyota Camry north in the southbound lanes of the interstate when he collided with a southbound tractor-trailer, authorities said. The semi-truck, which was hauling food, caught fire as a result. Emergency rescue personnel transported the driver of the semi-truck, the 40-year-old man, to the Medical Center of Central Georgia for treatment of his injuries, which included burns, according to authorities. Officials listed him in stable condition. Deputies from the Bibb County Sheriff's Office detained the 49-year-old man on suspicion of driving under the influence. He faces charges of driving the wrong way on a roadway, driving without…

Sometimes a little wind-down may be needed for those in Macon. Whether it’s chatting with a friend, hanging out at a club or organizing a small get-together, drinking may be involved as well. Some people may also end up getting behind the wheel of their car without realizing that they are over the limit, which could result in drunk driving charges or worse. One 47-year-old woman has unfortunately discovered how badly things can go when you get behind the wheel of a car while inebriated, even if you do not realize how inebriated you are. The woman will be facing not only a DUI charge and a charge for driving without her headlights, but also charges that include serious injury by vehicle, driving on the opposite side of the road and vehicular homicide to the first degree. While the woman was inebriated, she got into her car and ended up hitting…

Drunk driving remains a significant problem in the U.S. Every year, thousands of motorists die in accidents caused by intoxicated drivers. Sometimes, a single impaired driver runs off the road in Georgia, late at night, strikes a tree, and dies alone. Other car accidents may involve a drunk driver running into a van with a family, killing or seriously injuring the members of a family, who had been innocently returning home from a movie. While much has been done in the last few decades to address this problem, from lowering the amount of alcohol that determines legal impairment to stricter enforcement and stiffer penalties, there is still a long way to go in the fight to prevent the death and destruction caused by drunk driving accidents. But in order to know what we should be doing, we must know how well we have done. In most cases, a death certificate lists…

No one really needs to be told drunk driving is something that should be avoided. During the last 30 years, there has been an endless stream of studies examining and explaining the dangers of drunk driving. Additionally, the penalties for drunk driving have been ratcheted up, year after year, with significant fines and severe punishment likely outcomes of any DUI arrest and conviction. With tonight being St. Patrick's Day, announcements again have been made by the Georgia Governor's Office of Highway Safety to warn residents that Georgia state troopers, county sheriffs and local police will all be out in force on the roads to prevent drunk driving accidents. The death, destruction and mayhem caused by alcohol impaired driving are truly staggering. In 2013 alone, the number of people killed in Georgia in alcohol-related collisions increased by six percent to 161. Many people may dismiss 161 as rather insignificant compared with the population…

The legal intoxication limit for a driver is a blood alcohol content (BAC) of 0.08. This number means something different for everyone. Depending on your weight, your metabolism, and myriad other factors, you will reach 0.08 after only a small amount of alcohol, or maybe after quite a few drinks. But regardless of how you got there, when you surpass 0.08 (and even if you only reach it), you run the risk of being caught for drunk driving. Drunk driving is an astonishingly negligent act that ruins lives and leaves many people severely injured (or worse). But a new report says that 0.08 may not necessarily be the best indicator for a person's intoxication; and it also suggests that at BAC levels below 0.08, even at minuscule amounts, a person may be a significant risk for causing a crash. The report looked at more than 570,000 car accidents from 1994 to 2011.…