Boston Drunk Driving Accident Lawyer Blog
There are currently many companies working to develop a self-driving or driverless car these days. Some companies like Tesla are working to create not only the self-driving software and hardware, but also the car itself. Supposedly, they will soon be offering a free trial of a software package that allows their already existing fully electric cars to become a self-driving vehicle.
Other companies such as Google are working to develop the self-driving systems and then want to license or sell their technology to car companies, since the company is not interested in designing the vehicles themselves. Knowing the past track record of Google products, it is likely they will be successful.
There are a lot of reasons self-driving cars may become quickly accepted by society, and one of them will be to prevent drunk driving. In fact, according to a recent news article from CBS Local Boston, Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) is currently supporting the development of these self-driving cars and driving systems. While there are many chapters of MADD, the organization is run by a central office, and the head of this central office has said that automatic driving cars can seriously reduce the number of serious alcohol-related car accidents and alcohol-related deaths on the road.
The head of MADD recently attended a conference of state and federal government representatives and her purpose for coming there was to speak on the need to develop self-driving car technology. As she said at the conference, and as our Boston drunk driving accident lawyers are well aware, the annual death total for alcohol-related traffic accidents is around 10,000. This number is roughly a third of the 30,000 vehicle accident deaths that occur in a typical year, and every one of these death was preventable had a person not drunk alcohol to the point of intoxication and then gotten behind the wheel of a vehicle.
This point cannot be overstated. While we tend to call these crashes accidents, a drunk driving car crash is never an accident. The reason for that is because, when we use the term accident, it is meant to describe an event that was nobody’s fault, when it was clearly the choice of someone to drink alcohol to the point intoxication and then drive. Under the law in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, if something is not an accident, and is not on purpose, but someone gets injured, the so-called car accident is really an act of negligence in the civil context. However, since drunk driving is also against the law, it is also a criminal offense for which defendant can be charged in a criminal court.
As for the timeline of automatic or self-driving cars on the roadways of America, industry experts believe there will be millions of these cars on the road in the next 10 to 20 years, depending on several variables in the development of newer technology, safety testing, and the general public’s willingness to accept sitting in self-driving cars.
If you or someone you love has been injured a Boston drunk driving accident, call for a free and confidential appointment at (617) 777-7777.
Additional Resources:
Mothers Against Drunk Driving Aren’t Against Driverless Cars, April 29, 2016, CBS Boston
More Blog Entries:
Report: Possible Tougher Drunk Driving Laws in Massachusetts, March 30, 2016, Boston Drunk Driving Accident Lawyer Blog