A feature created by Mother’s Against Drunk Driving (MADD) allows drivers to investigate the rates of drunk driving accidents in Boston and elsewhere throughout the country.
This system that they’ve created allows residents to view the percentage of total accident deaths in their area that have been reported to be DUI related. This interactive map offers 2009 statistics, as they are the most recent. Massachusetts ranks 31st in having the most DUI related traffic-accident fatalities in the United States.
In Massachusetts, the legal limit for blood alcohol concentration of motorists behind the wheel is .08. Our Boston dunk driving accident attorneys recognize that there are a number of laws that regulate the penalties for committing this crime. Additional penalties can occur to the convicted after being busted for drunk driving with a child passenger in a vehicle. The state also exercises statutes that create mandatory testing for all drivers killed in vehicle crashes. These laws, and many others, are meant to protect drivers from being involved in a drunk driving accident in Massachusetts.
This year alone, nearly 11,000 people are expected to die in drunk-driving traffic accidents. This calculates to one death every 50 minutes.
According to MADD, in the last year there were more than 100 deaths resulting from traffic accidents that involved a drunk driver in Massachusetts. These accident fatalities accounted for more than 30 percent of all state traffic deaths. These drunk driving accidents cost the state nearly $800 million.
In the last 5 years, nearly 1,000 people have died in Massachusetts in these drunk driving accidents. Five years of drunk driving accidents cost the state nearly $5 billion.
MADD offers you these tips to help you spot a drunk driver on our roadways:
-Excessive tailgating.
-Quick acceleration or deceleration.
-Near striking of another object on the road.
-Weaving or zig-zagging along the road.
-Stopping without reason of erratic braking.
-Driving into oncoming traffic or on the wrong side of the road.
-Driving slower than the speed limit by at least 10mph.
-Driving with headlights off during the evening hours.
-Straddling lane markers.
-Slow, or no, response to traffic signals.
-Signals that are inconsistent with driving actions.
You’ve spotted a drunk driver. Now what? Follow these steps:
-First off, stay as far away from the vehicle as you can.
-Do not try to stop the vehicle or get them to pull over.
-Get the car’s license plate number, a description of the driver and the car’s make, model and color. Do not compromise your own safety in doing so.
-Pull over and call 911. Give authorities this information along with the location of the vehicle and the direction it’s traveling.
-Leave the rest up to local officials.
If you or a loved one has been involved in an accident with a drunk driver in Massachusetts, contact the drunk driving accident lawyers at Jeffrey Glassman Injury Lawyers for a free and confidential consultation to discuss your rights. Call 877-617-5333.
More Blog Entries:
Drunk Driver Kills Two Teens in alleged DUI Accident in Massachusetts, Boston Drunk Driving Accident Lawyer Blog, May 19, 2011
Young Driver Faces Charges After Single-car Drunk Driving Accident in Braintree – Police Continue Drunk Driving Crackdown, Boston Drunk Driving Accident Lawyer Blog, May 18, 2011