There is no question driving a car while intoxicated can lead to a serious accident. There is also no question distracted driving, such as a reading or sending text messages, can also lead to a major car accident. According to a recent news article from the Braintree Patch, police arrested a man who was allegedly texting while driving drunk.

1377498_smart_phone_icon.jpgAuthorities say they saw defendant driving his vehicle toward Holbrook just after midnight. He was allegedly driving in excess of 30 mph over the posted speed limit before stopping at a red traffic signal. His vehicle did not move for about 30 seconds after the traffic light changed to green. When police pulled defendant over, they reportedly observed driver to have glassy and bloodshot eyes. He was pulled over because, as police say, he almost swerved into a large snowbank.

Defendant supposedly admitted to officers he was texting on his phone and was on his way home from work. He allegedly also told arresting officers he consumed two alcoholic beverages before getting behind the wheel.
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According to a recent news report from TMZ, Utah police arrested former porn star Asia Carrera for drunk driving with her minor daughter in her car. Witnesses say they found Carrera passed out on a couch in her daughter’s school.

12754_hand_cuffs.jpgPolice arrived and woke Carrera, who is alleged to have had a strong odor of alcoholic beverages. She supposedly admitted to drunk driving with her daughter in the car and took police to see her car.

Police then attempted to administer several standardized field sobriety tests, and she allegedly fell down during the walking phase of one test. Police administered a breath test, and they alleged she blew a 0.245, which is well over the legal limit of 0.08 grams of alcohol per hundred milliliters of blood. Police charged Carrera with driving under the influence (DUI) of intoxicating liquor with a minor. She was released on her personal recognizance later that day.
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Liability insurance not only covers injuries to victims in other car, but also can be used to compensate injured passengers in at-fault driver’s car. However, there is sometimes not enough coverage on a single policy to cover the full extent of all injuries.

cash-money-notes-1-1384590-m.jpgAuto insurance liability insurance in Massachusetts has policy limits broken down into the three categories. A policy will have separate limits for a single injury, total injuries per accident, and property damage resulting from the accident. Some people have the state minimum insurance, while other people will have insurance well above the state mandatory minimums.

In the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the state requires minimum coverage $20,000 per injury, $40,000 per accident, and $5,000 in personal property of others coverage. Boston drunk driving accident lawyers typically express these figures as 20/40/5. When you are riding the T and see a poster for a company advertising cheap insurance with state minimum coverage, they are talking about 20/40/5.
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According to a recent news report from NECN, a driver drove his truck off the upper deck of Interstate 93 in Boston and landed on the lower deck. Incredibly, he survived.

dallas-highway-clover-leaf-782572-m.jpgPolice say the 33-year-old defendant has been arrested for drunk driving. Surveillance footage shows defendant allegedly hitting a light pole, exit sign, and a section of fence before he “launched” off the upper roadway surface and landed on the lower deck in the southbound lane.

First responders pulled defendant from the wreckage and took him to Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) in Boston. After a preliminary investigation, police issued a summons for defendant to appear in Boston district court to face charges for drunk driving.
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When we think of driving under the influence (DUI), we normally think of someone under the influence of alcohol. However, the typical charge in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is called operating a motor vehicle under the influence (OUI) of intoxicating liquor or drugs. This is because driving while on drugs is just as dangerous as drunk driving and is treated the same way in a civil car accident lawsuit.

pills-1213599-m.jpgTo understand the dangers of driving while on drugs, we can look at recent horrific car crash involving a pedestrian death in Washington, DC. According to a recent news article from Fox, a man was driving his SUV when he allegedly sideswiped several vehicles and rear-ended another vehicle before fleeing the scene of the accident.

After fleeing the scene, he allegedly ran into a traffic light pole, which hit a building. He then lost control of his vehicle near the Government Accounting Office (GAO) building and rolled over, landing on a pedestrian and killing him. The car also hit another person in its path, causing serious personal injury.
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According to a recent news report from the Daily Record, New Jersey police arrested two men who were involved in an alleged drunk driving car accident, which they later attempted to cover up. Authorities say one of the two men crashed his BMW earlier in the night after running a stop sign and hitting a guard rail on the opposite side of the road from which he was driving.

ice-frozen-river-1438623-m.jpgAfter crashing his car, suspect allegedly drove the heavily damaged vehicle home. It belonged to a family member. He then returned to the scene of the accident with another man who police also arrested that night. When officers arrived, they found two men walking in the intersection just before 3:00. Driver was not wearing a shirt. He supposedly told officers his shirt got wet, so he had removed it. The temperature that night was one degree with a severe wind chill.

Police found two mostly-empty five-gallon buckets of water in the backseat of their vehicle. Police say defendants had poured nearly all of the water onto the intersection to create black ice on the road surface, so this would be blamed as the cause of his earlier accident rather than being intoxicated.
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It should come as no surprise that college students tend to drink more heavily and more often than older Americans. With increased drinking also comes increased risk – not only risk with their own safety, but risk involving the safety of others.

college-campus-1385162-m.jpgAccording to a recent news article from Mass Live, Amherst police arrested two students for drunk driving (one involving a car accident) in the same night. The first arrested occurred just after 1 a.m. Defendant in this case is alleged to have been driving drunk when he crashed his car into a snow bank and then hit a utility pole. Luckily, in this case, nobody was injured.

However, as one can imagine, driving a car while intoxicated on an icy road could lead to serious personal injury. Even in many single car crashes, innocent victims are often injured. This could be a passenger in the car or a pedestrian.
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According to a recent news report from CBS Boston, a Medford police officer was arrested for operating a motor vehicle under the influence of intoxicating liquor (OUI), negligent operation of a motor vehicle, leaving the scene of an accident with property damage (hit-and-run), failure to stop for police, speeding and a marked lanes violation (weaving).

PoliceLights.jpgAuthorities say they were notified of a car accident around 11 p.m. A 911 caller told police he was involved in a hit-and-run accident and was following the suspect. Police found a car driving with extensive front-end damage being followed by caller.

When officers tried to stop suspect, he allegedly refuse to stop for a significant amount of time before finally stopping his vehicle at a local school. Police then ordered suspect out of his vehicle, but he initially ignored several exit order commands before finally getting out of his car, according to authorities.
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While drunk driving accidents and deaths are on the overall decline – both in Massachusetts and nationwide – there is another growing concern, according to the National Highway Traffic Administration: Drugged drivers.
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Two recent studies by the agency point to this fact.

One of those is the most recent Roadside Survey of Alcohol and Drug Use by Drivers, which revealed the number of motorists in the U.S. with alcohol in their blood declined by almost one-third in the last eight years. The figure has dropped by more than two-thirds since 1973.
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