Even after many years of media campaigns warning people not to drink and then drive, story after story in the news media tell the public of vehicular accidents involving intoxication. Alcohol can impair the senses enough that a drunk driving accident can kill or permanently injure anyone involved. A Georgia woman is facing charges after an alleged drunk driving accident. The Georgia State Patrol states that several troopers were called to the scene of an accident that left one person dead and two others injured. Through their investigation, they learned a woman driving a large SUV veered from her lane into that of oncoming traffic, where she collided head-on with a sedan. The sedan was then hit from behind by a pickup truck. The driver of the sedan died and the two people in the truck were injured, although not seriously. The troopers arrested the driver of the SUV, who was…

Driving after consuming alcoholic beverages is a recipe for disaster. According to some statistics, the number of accidents caused by drunk driving has risen in the past few years. Drunk driving by a Georgia man is said to be the cause of a collision causing injuries to people and death to a beloved pet. A report states a 57-year-old man driving a minivan crossed the center line into the lane of oncoming traffic. He crashed into an SUV headed straight toward him. He and the other driver had to be cut out of their vehicles and, along with the passenger in the SUV, were transported to a nearby hospital. All three were critically injured and a dog belonging to the couple in the SUV died. The incident report by police claimed the minivan contained drugs and alcohol, causing them to arrest the driver on charges of reckless driving, felony serious injury…

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,…

A Calhoun woman has received an indictment after a May 23 car accident that allegedly involved drunk driving and killed a pedestrian. The Gordon County grand jury issued the indictment after a 50-year-old woman struck a 65-year-old woman in a residential neighborhood while the victim was at a mailbox. According to the deceased's daughter, her mother, who was from Augusta, went to the mailbox at around 11:30 a.m. The woman was on the side of the road at the mailbox on Blackwood Place when a Dodge Neon SXT struck her. The Dodge arrived on Blackwood from Ga. Highway 53, and a Georgia State Patrol's incident report indicated that the vehicle was traveling at a fast speed. After the impact, the pedestrian sent her about 52 feet into the air. The Augusta woman was airlifted to Erlanger Hospital in Chattanooga but died at the hospital. After the crash, the Dodge traveled…

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…

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…

In Georgia, the struggle against drunk driving continues every day. From education in schools, to Georgia State Patrol troopers using checkpoints and stopping suspected drunk drivers, a great deal is being done to reduce the number of traffic fatalities caused by drunk driving accidents. But the need remains great. Too many people are killed and too many suffer lifelong injuries that will inflict decades of pain and require lifetime medical care. So it is important to learn that binge drinking, the consumption of more than five drinks in a row, remains prevalent among high school students. Frighteningly, almost sixth percent of high schools seniors admit to incredible binge drinking of 15 drinks or more at a single time. One wonders how it is possible to avoid alcohol poisoning or death at this level, but this extreme binge drinking continues to occur and it is disturbing to find that it has…

When you are driving from Macon, up I-75 to Atlanta, or down I-16 to Savannah, there are things you can do to have a safer trip. If your vehicle is in good operation condition, you can make sure you have had enough sleep, don't speed, avoid any impairing alcohol or medicine and leave your cellphone turned off and out of sight. By remaining focused on the road and vehicles around you, you can greatly increase your chances of arriving safely. Of course, you can't control any of those behaviors in other drivers. If a fatigued truck driver falls asleep and crosses the median, you can only hope you are aware of it in time to take evasive action. All of your careful preparation and safe driving habits can be wiped out by a drunk driver speeding through a stop sign and striking your car broadside. With tens of thousands of car…