Boston Drunk Driving Accident Lawyer Blog

With all of the holiday cheer, it’s easy to forget about the responsibility you have if you’re throwing a party at your home or work.

In Massachusetts, a party host, and even employers hosting holiday parties, can be held liable in cases where a guest is in an accident after consuming alcohol at an event.

Our Boston drunk driving accident attorneys understand that many of these accidents occur after a celebration at a bar, restaurant or private party. In these cases, hosts are held responsible in ensuring that guests are not over-served and those who are underage are not served at all. If any of this happens and an accident results, party hosts can be held responsible for vehicle repair costs, medical bills, wrongful death and lost-work wages.

Party Hosting Tips:

-Make sure that the designated drivers and the underage attendees have plenty of nonalcoholic beverages.

-Ask all of your guests to plan ahead and to designate a sober driver before the festivities kick off.

-After a couple of hours, stop serving alcohol beverages. This is especially important a few hours before your party ends.

-Look through your guest list before sending out invites. Make sure you know who is a responsible drinker.

-Consider hiring a bartender instead of allowing guests to serve themselves. This will help to have the alcohol consumption monitored.

-Make sure you’ve got Massachusetts cab company phone numbers handy!

-Allow intoxicated guests to sleep over at your house.

-Try to get guests to sign a Safe and Sober Pledge before partying. You want to make sure everyone has a plan before busting out the alcohol.

-Try to figure out some fun games or activities to do at your party. This will help to take the focus off of drinking.

-Stay alert and considerate of your guests. Remember you have responsibilities as a party host.

Dram Shop and Social Host Liability Laws in Massachusetts:

-Vendor liability for intoxicated adults: Yes.

-Vendor liability for intoxicated minors: Yes.

-Social host liability for intoxicated adults: No.

-Social host liability for intoxicated minors: Yes.

Under current liquor law, if a dram shop serves or sells to someone who is clearly intoxicated, they can be held liable if that person causes an accident — most commonly a drunk driving car accident. If you have fallen victim to these circumstances, you may be able to file a claim against the driver and the dram shop establishment or party host that served the alcohol. Hiring an experienced law firm is key in these incidents, as we can help to not only provide stern representation, but can also help to conduct a thorough investigation to establish liability in a dram shop claim.
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The National Transportation Safety Board recently declared that all convicted drunk drivers should be required to have ignition interlocks. They even included first-time offenders in this bunch, according to the Boston Globe.

As it stands now, these devices are required of all drunk driving offenders in 17 states. But in Massachusetts, first-time offenders are not required to use these devices unless ordered by a court. Many times, they’re not ordered for first-time offenders.

Our Boston drunk driving car accident lawyers understand that drunk driving crashes account for about a third of all roadway fatalities in the country. These devices have been proven in helping to stop drunk driving car accidents. How they work is a driver has to breathe into a breathalyzer in the vehicle before it can be started. Typically, if these devices gather a blood-alcohol concentration reading of .02 or .04 or higher then it won’t allow the engine to be started.

The National Transportation Safety Board is also trying to get automakers to develop a system that can figure out a driver blood alcohol concentration by using an infrared light. When the driver goes to hit the ignition button, it won’t start if they’ve been drinking too much. This device is still in the works though.

This technology is already in some workplace drug-testing programs. Officials believe that if it can be incorporated into new vehicles, then eventually all drivers would be tested before starting up the car and we could help to prevent the roughly 10,000 drunk driving fatalities that we see in the country every year!

The technologies hold ”great promise to be a game changer in highway safety,” said NTSB Chairman Deborah Hersman.

What does a driver have to do with an ignition interlock?

-Installation: A convicted driver has to contact an approved vendor and schedule a time for installation.

-Payment: There and installation fees along with maintenance feeds. Those are required to be paid by the driver.

-Maintenance: Every 30 days, the driver must visit with the vendor for a maintenance check and for a data upload.

-Usage: A driver is required to follow all of the rules and regulations that come with the ignition interlock. These devices cannot be tampered with in any way. If a driver is busted altering these devices, they could face even more charges in court.

In Massachusetts, there were close to 115 people killed accidents in which at least one driver was completely drunk in 2008. There were another 125 people who were killed in car accidents in which at least one driver was under the influence of alcohol. With close to 11,750 people arrested for DUI the year before, you’d think residents would learn. That’s not going to happen without ignition interlocks for more drivers.
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You better be careful out there!

Officials throughout the Commonwealth say they’re stepping up enforcement efforts of liquor laws in an attempt to stop drunk driving accidents over the holiday season. According to 22NEWS, the Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission will also be focusing its attention on bars and restaurants in the state to help to make sure they’re following the state’s laws against serving those who are too intoxicated or those who are underage.

Steven Grossman, the State Treasurer, says that it’s these kinds of enforcement efforts that help to prevent tragedies before they happen. According to recent statistics, about half of Massachusetts’ arrests for impaired driving involves someone who had been drinking at a bar. This holiday enforcement effort runs along with enforcement efforts from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and is going on from Thanksgiving through New Year’s Eve.

Our Boston drunk driving injury lawyers are asking drivers to be safe out there over the holiday season and especially during weekends. During these times, about a third of all drivers who are involved in fatal accidents are under the influence of alcohol. The problem has gotten so bad that officials estimate that someone was killed in one of these accidents every 51 minutes in 2010. That’s more than 10,000 fatalities.

The holiday season is one of the worst, too! There’s a lot more traffic out there and there are a lot more celebrations and get-togethers. Unfortunately, there aren’t enough safe and responsible drivers as people continue to get behind the wheel after consuming alcohol.

Americans take close to 250 billion trips in cars each and every year. Of those trips, about one out of every 2,000 is taken by someone who is driving under the influence of alcohol. Still, about one out of every three traffic fatalities involves a drunk driver.

Alcohol-related car accidents cost the country close to $40 billion each year. And these are accidents that are entirely preventable!

To help you to stay safe, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is here for some safe and sober driving tips:

-Do not get behind the wheel if you have consumed any amount of alcohol.

-Never allow any of your friends or your family members to drive after consuming alcohol.

-Plan ahead. Make sure you’ve got a designated driver before heading out.

-Remember that getting busted for driving under the influence can be costly! Officials estimate that a first-time drunk driving conviction can cost about $8,000.

-It’s not only alcohol that will impair your judgment. Medications can do so as well.

-If you think you spot and drunk driver on our roadways, report them by calling 9-1-1.

-Stay off your bicycle if you’ve been drinking, too!

-If you’re going to be throwing a party, make sure guests are sober before they leave.
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This November, Massachusetts’ voters approved a ballot measure that legalized marijuana for medical use.

The legalization of medical marijuana means that dispensaries can be opened throughout the state. In fact, up to 35 dispensaries can be opened. This has officials in many parts of Massachusetts worried about whether dispensaries will open in their area. NECN, for example, recently reported on the concerns that Worcester, Massachusetts leaders were expressing over whether a dispensary would open in their city.

As medical marijuana dispensaries open throughout the state, our Boston drunk driving accident lawyers urge Massachusetts residents to be aware of the new potential risks presented by legalized medical marijuana. One major concern is that more drivers will drive after having smoked marijuana since the drug is now legal for medical use.

How Medical Marijuana Dispensaries Will Impact Drugged Driving Laws
According to NECN, the primary concern for Worcester Massachusetts’ leaders is the lack of certainty about how new dispensaries will operate. City leaders are uncertain about who will be receiving medical marijuana and how it will be distributed. Officials are also concerned that the Massachusetts laws on medical marijuana conflict with the federal marijuana laws. This fact compounds the uncertainty about how law enforcement will interact with the dispensaries and with those who have a prescription for medical marijuana.

Since marijuana has been approved for medical purposes, city leaders believe that it should be dispensed to individuals who have a prescription from a doctor. The problem, however, is that doctors have not been trained on exactly how and when to prescribe marijuana since it has not been legal in Massachusetts for medicinal use. Further, the role of law enforcement is not clear–will law enforcement be enforcing the law to make sure that marijuana is used only for medicinal reasons and how will they be enforcing this? These questions are among those being raised.

Some of the most important questions, however, will revolve around how the legalization of medical marijuana will impact the number of drug-related car accidents. Drugged driving is illegal, but as we discussed in our blog Drugged Driving Presents Increasing Concern For Law Enforcement, enforcing drugged driving laws is difficult because of the lack of testing for drugged drivers and the lack of clear standards for when a driver is over-the-limit as far as drug use.

Protecting Yourself From Drugged Drivers
Until clear standards are in place for how medical marijuana will be regulated and how law enforcement will enforce drugged driving laws, residents of Massachusetts need to be cautious of the potential dangers raised by medical marijuana.

Of course, every driver should make a commitment to refrain from driving after smoking or consuming any marijuana products in order to avoid the risk of causing an accident. Drivers should also be aware that there is an increased chance of drivers on the road being impaired by drugs — especially in areas near marijuana dispensaries. Keeping track of where and when dispensaries open and being vigilant for signs of erratic driving behavior on the road are both ways that you can protect yourself from becoming involved in a drugged driving accident.
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Drugged driving has become a major concern for law enforcement, especially in light of the new medical marijuana law passed in Massachusetts in the November 2012 election.

Drugged driving may be just as dangerous as drunk driving and some studies suggest that drugged driving may already be more common than drunk driving. Compounding the problem is the fact that there are no clear tests for when a person is too high to drive, so people may be more likely to get behind the wheel after smoking marijuana or indulging in other drug use.

Our Boston drunk driving accident lawyers are concerned that the legalization of marijuana will add to the number of drugged drivers on the road, increasing the accident risk. This means more innocent victims could be harmed as a result of drivers who are too impaired to drive safely.

The Dangers of Drugged Driving
Recently, the California Office of Traffic Safety conducted a study of more than 1,300 drivers. These drivers, who lived in various cities throughout California, were voluntarily tested anonymously over the course of several weekends. The testing revealed that approximately 7 percent of the studied drivers tested positive for alcohol while 14 percent tested positive for having drugs in their system. In other words, there were twice as many drivers who were potentially impaired by drugs as there were drivers impaired by alcohol.

When a driver is on drugs, his reflexes can be slowed and he may be unable to focus or pay attention. The amount of brain activity that is devoted to driving can be significantly reduced. Marijuana, while classified as neither a depressant nor a stimulant, can make drivers feel calm and laid back and can reduce their ability to respond to driving situations. This makes an accident more likely, which is why impaired driving laws or OUI laws in Massachusetts forbid not only driving under the influence of alcohol but also driving while on drugs.

Unfortunately, there is no clear test to determine exactly when a driver is too high to drive. With alcohol, it is clear that a driver who has a BAC of .08 or higher is too impaired to be behind the wheel. Most people are aware that it takes only a few drinks to get to this level and many are discouraged from drunk driving because they know of the dangers and of the legal risks they take when driving with a high BAC. With marijuana, however, it is difficult to determine when a person has too much of the drug in their system. Complicating matters further is the fact that THC, the active drug ingredient in marijuana, can stay in the body for days or weeks after a person has taken the drug- so a person testing positive for marijuana in his or her blood may not even be high at the time he or she is driving.

The confusion surrounding drugged driving is likely to only become worse now that Massachusetts approved a ballot legalizing medical marijuana. Since the drug is now legal for medicinal use, having small amounts of THC in the body might not be automatically be considered against the law- and thus it becomes unclear how to treat a driver pulled over with a bit of THC in his system.

The high number of people who drive while impaired by drugs, coupled with the difficulty of enforcing drugged driving laws and the new legalization of medical marijuana all present major risks to drivers. The bottom line is, if a drugged driver causes an auto accident, serious injury could result to innocent victims.
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This month, a family in North Carolina was awarded a $1.7 million verdict after a drunk driving accident caused the couple to suffer serious injuries and to lose their unborn child.

The verdict was not against the drunk driver who had caused the devastating accident but was instead against the restaurant bar that had served more than 10 drinks to the defendant prior to the crash. According to USA Today, the bar was held responsible for the accident and resulting injuries under North Carolina’s dram shop laws.

Many states throughout the U.S. have similar laws in place and these dram shop laws serve an important purpose in protecting the public. Our Boston dram shop lawyers want to draw attention to the dram shop laws that exist in the Commonwealth and to explain the impact these dram shop laws can have on your legal rights if you are the victim of a drunk driving accident.

Understanding Dram Shop Laws
In Massachusetts, the dram shop laws are found in Title XX, Chapter 138, Section 69 of the Administration of the Government. The law prohibits selling or delivering alcohol beverages to an intoxicated person on any premises.

If a bar, restaurant or other host serving alcohol provides a drink to someone who is intoxicated, the bar can become responsible if the intoxicated person causes an accident. Essentially, this makes the bar or host responsible for the actions of its patrons if they serve those patrons when they are drunk.

For those who are injured in a crash, the Massachusetts’ dram shop laws are very important. Drunk drivers can be held liable for paying for the cost of your injuries in a personal injury case, but they may not have sufficient funds to pay the entire cost of your damages, especially when factoring in medical costs, lost wages, pain and suffering, emotional distress or loss of companionship in the event of a death. If you are able to take legal action against a bar or restaurant that serves the intoxicated patron, this provides another potential source of recovery as most businesses have general liability insurance policies in excess of $1 million.

The Controversy Surrounding Dram Shop Laws
Dram shop laws can impose significant legal liability on a bar or restaurant, as the recent large verdict in North Carolina shows. As a result, some criticize dram shop laws by claiming they are too vague or that they don’t encourage personal responsibility. After all, it may be hard to determine when a person is too intoxicated to serve and it ultimately should be the responsibility of the drunk patron to know when he has had enough to drink.

Despite the controversy, however, dram shop laws serve a very important purpose and could potentially save lives. If a bartender, server, bar or club takes responsibility and stops someone from drinking when he might not be aware of how drunk he is, this could potentially save a life. Drunk driving is so dangerous and the potential costs so high, that bars or restaurants who are in a position to potentially stop a drunk driver should be held accountable if they fail to do so.
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On November 20, 2012, Wicked Local Walpole published an article reporting that police in Walpole, Mass. were encouraging bartenders to “look for heroes.” The request was made as part of a month-long national campaign to encourage designated drivers and to reduce the risk of drunk driving accidents.

Our Boston drunk driving accident lawyers commend the efforts of the Walpole police in encouraging bars and restaurants to reward designated drivers. The Look for Heroes campaign is an important way to draw attention to the life-saving role played by designated drivers and those going out celebrating this holiday season should be on the lookout for bars that are participating.

Understanding the HERO Campaign to Stop Drunk Driving
The police request that bartenders recognize “heroes,” is part of a national campaign started by a New Jersey family who lost their son in a tragic drunk driving accident. The idea behind the campaign is that bartenders or servers should identify a person in each group of patron who is the designated driver for the group. The server should then provide free water and soft drinks to the designated driver so that he or she is not encouraged to drink alcohol and so he is rewarded and recognized for the role he is playing in getting his friends home safe.

Walpole police who are participating in the Hero campaign began a letter writing project in Mid-November requesting that pubs in the town both participate and display a decal in their windows alerting customers to the fact that they are participating. According to Wicked Locale Walpole, Deputy Police Chief John Carmichael believes that the hero campaign could help to improve business and could be a further push to eliminate drunk driving in Massachusetts.

Many bars in the area are expected to participate since most already do their part to try to stop drunk driving. One bar manager indicated that it was their policy to keep an eye on patrons and to provide a cab for those who have had too much to drink, paid for at the expense of the bar. This helps to ensure that no one drinks and drives.

Designated Drivers Save Lives
The hero campaign is so named because it is believed that designated drivers are heroes. By helping people to get home, they could save not only the lives of their friends but also the lives of innocent patrons on the road who could be hit by a drunk driver.

Anyone who is going out drinking should bring a designated driver to remove the temptation to drink. This is true even if a person is having only a few drinks, since many of the arrests in Walpole are reportedly made after a driver has three or four drinks and believes he is sober enough to drive. With a designated driver, the worry about whether you are sober enough to drive or not is eliminated and there is no risk to innocent victims of losing their lives in a drunk driving accident.
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According to Boston.com, the number of traffic accidents and car accident fatalities is higher between Thanksgiving and New Years every year than at any other time of the year.

While there are many reasons for the increase in fatalities, drunk driving is one major contributing factor.

Drunk driving is always a major risk, but with so many parties and celebrations, more people tend to drive drunk over the holiday season than at other times of the year. Law enforcement recognizes this phenomenon and is cracking down on DUIs this holiday season. Our Boston drunk driving accident lawyers support their efforts and want to remind you of the dangers of drunk driving over the holiday period.

Drunk Drivers Over Thanksgiving Weekend 2012
Traditionally, Thanksgiving kicks off the danger season during which more traffic accident fatalities occur than at other points during the year. This year, however, CBS Boston reports that there were no deadly crashes over the Thanksgiving weekend. CBS Boston noted that this was unusual because statistics show an increased risk of accidents over the four-day Thanksgiving holiday.

The fact that there were no drunk driving fatalities during the 2012 Thanksgiving season is a great thing, but unfortunately the lack of crashes cannot be attributed to the fact that everyone refrained from drunk driving. In fact, there were a very high number of drunk driving arrests over the weekend:

• State troopers arrested 13 drunk drivers in Southeastern Massachusetts along Routes 24 and 195 on the Friday and Saturday evenings following Thanksgiving.
• There were 21 drivers arrested for driving while impaired at DUI checkpoints in Lowell on Friday and in Canton on Saturday.
• One driver believed to have been impaired was involved in a head-on crash when driving in the wrong direction on the Braga Bridge over the weekend. The driver was seriously injured in the crash, but it is unclear whether anyone else was hurt.

These dozens of arrests show that people were still taking dangerous risks and driving drunk over the holiday. The fact that they were not involved in accidents can be attributed both to luck and to the efforts of law enforcement to cut down on drunk driving accidents.

State police from the six New England states will be joining forces this year to try to avoid the increase in fatalities that always happens during the holiday season, and CBS News reports that one of the issues they are focusing on is drunk driving. More police enforcement will be going on throughout the holiday season and state troopers will be stationed every few miles on highways to attempt to identify and stop drunk drivers before they do damage.

Protecting Yourself This Holiday Season
This holiday season, it is important to avoid driving drunk to keep yourself and your family safe. Unfortunately, protecting yourself against other drivers who choose to drive while impaired can be difficult since you never know when a drunk driver will present a danger. Simply being aware of the increased risk of drunk driving accidents over the holiday season may be helpful in avoiding crashes, and you should also consider avoiding areas near bars and clubs during the times when drunk driving accidents are most likely to occur.

If you are injured in a crash with a drunk driver, or if one of your family members is injured, you may be able to take legal action to hold the driver responsible.
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According to Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) and a recent study, there are alarmingly high acquittal rates for drunk driving cases at trial here in Massachusetts.

It’s all a result of what officials call “judge shopping,” courts allowing the defendants to refuse BAC tests to be used as evidence in these trials and for attorneys to argue timeframe issues for BAC tests.

The end result is far too many drunk drivers being let back on our roadways.

Our Boston drunk driving accident attorneys understand that our system may be broken. “Justice” in drunk driving cases isn’t oftentimes served to the victim. It’s the drunk drivers who are given the leniency. Currently, officials with MADD are urging legislators to make changes to their system to not only punish these dangerous drivers, but to help to protect innocent travelers. MADD officials suggest that all drivers convicted should be required to use an ignition interlock for a minimum of 6 months.

Ignition interlocks have been proven to be effective in keep drunk drivers who have already been convicted off of our roadways. You see, it’s not unlikely for these drivers to hop behind the wheel even with no driver’s license. These devices help to stop them from doing so. Driver’s license suspensions just aren’t enough. According to studies, anywhere between 50 and 70 percent of drivers with license suspensions continue to drive anyway. Because of this irresponsible behavior, we continue to lose thousands in these preventable accidents year after year.

Those who have been convicted and have these devices are still allowed to drive to school and work, but they have to do so sober. These devices have been found to stop repeat offenders by close to 7 percent. Ignition interlocks play a key role in MADD’s efforts to stop drunk driving. States like Arizona and Oregon have seen the number of deaths resulting from drunk driving accidents cut in half since they enacted laws for ignition interlocks.

You can help to change this. All you have to do is contact our Massachusetts legislators and ask them to support ignition interlocks for all drunk driving offenders.

Remember that drunk driving car accidents are completely preventable. There’s never a reason to get behind the wheel after consuming alcohol, whether it’s your first time or the 100th time. Still, drivers continue to face these risks each and every day and thousands are killed each year because of it. Each time you get behind the wheel after consuming alcohol, you’re not only risking your own life, but the lives of innocent travelers as well!
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