Boston Drunk Driving Accident Lawyer Blog
To the victims of a drunk driving accident, and the victims’ families, being involving in the accident can have long lasting consequences. It is hard to quantify how each victim’s life is changed and how deeply a family can be hurt by the irresponsible actions of those who decide to drink to the point of intoxication before getting behind the wheel.
While is difficult to look at drunk driving in terms of number of incidents and accidents, funding for campaigns to curb drunk driving in Massachusetts often come down to a numbers game, so, to that end, the Hingham Patch has recently published a report from the Hingham, Massachusetts Police Department detailing their drunk driving arrest numbers for last year.
According to the recent report, there was a total of 68 arrests made for operating under the influence of intoxicating liquor or drugs (OUI). Operating under the influence is the official name for drunk drunk driving or DUI, DWI, in as defined in the Massachusetts General Laws (MGL).
While many people associate drunk driving with younger defendants, the ages ranged from under 18 to over 80 years of age. This shows that there is no typical drunk driver, as people of all ages exhibit poor judgment by choosing to get behind the wheel after becoming intoxicated. There were, however, significantly more male defendants than female defendants arrested for drunk driving in this Massachusetts town. The actual numbers were 14 women and 54 men.
Most of these cases involved drunk driving, but there were eight people arrested on suspicion of drugged driving. This can include both prescription drugs and street drugs. In the case of prescription drugs, it doesn’t matter whether the defendant had a valid prescription at the time of his or her arrest. If they did not have a prescription, police might also charge the defendant with possession of a controlled dangerous substance, but that not would have any effect on the drunk driving charge. This makes sense when you think about the fact that alcohol is also legal for anyone 21 years of age or older to consume, but it is illegal to drive drunk.
There were also 24 drunk driving car crashes in Hingham as part of these 68 OUI arrests. In those two dozen drunk driving car accidents, there were personal injuries suffered in three of these accidents. Again, while three may seem like a small number, for the victims of a drunk driving accident and their families, this is not a numbers game. Each one of the accidents could have resulted in life-changing effects on their entire family.
In 13 of these drunk driving arrests, police were notified from witnesses that a suspect was driving erratically. The fact that so many people will call 911 when they suspect a person is drunk shows how worried people can be about the dangers of driving drunk and the serious or even fatal accidents that could result from a drunk driving crash in Hingham or other parts of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
If you or someone you love has been injured in a Boston drunk driving accident, call for a free and confidential appointment at (617) 777-7777.
Additional Resources:
How Many People Were Charged with an OUI in Hingham During 2015?, February 9, 2016, Hingham Patch, By Daniel Libon
More Blog Entries:
Report: Massachusetts is Mid-Level on Drunk Driving Prevention, June 19, 2015, Boston Drunk Driving Injury Lawyer Blog