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<\/a><\/p>\nProblem Not Going Away Soon<\/strong><\/p>\n A problem that\u2019s not about to go away soon, DUI accidents usually result in substantial personal injuries or death to innocent victims as well as extensive damage to their property, even if uninjured. Meanwhile, as is often the case, the drunk driver comes out of the accident unscathed, leaving the injured party to deal with their injuries, unless they can recover compensatory and punitive damages in relation to those injuries. \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n And, under Alabama\u2019s new criminal DUI statute passed late last year, violators face increased fines and jail time for \u201caggravated\u201d DUI convictions, which are defined as driving with a blood-alcohol level greater than 0.15. Individuals injured in a traffic accident by an intoxicated person behind the wheel can argue that the drunk driver violated the law by engaging in wanton conduct, resulting in injury; therefore, punitive damages are warranted.<\/p>\n Injured parties may also find remedy against a third party, since Alabama knows that\u00a0drunk drivers don\u2019t become intoxicated by chance and are often the product of over-serving by negligent bars and restaurants. It is the responsibility of these establishments to regulate and limit alcohol to individuals who are visibly inebriated.<\/p>\n Alabama\u2019s Dram Shop Law is specifically designed to allow injured parties the ability to recover damages against an irresponsible bar or restaurant that provided alcohol to a drunk driver who subsequently causes an automobile accident in which individuals are injured or killed.<\/p>\n In addition to the existing alcohol-related crashes is the mounting concern over drug use by drivers. From marijuana to an increase in prescription drug abuse, such as painkillers, or over-the-counter medications, a person\u2019s ability to safely operate a vehicle of any type can be greatly impaired.<\/p>\n National data, including from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration<\/a> (NHTSA) determined that 22 percent of drivers tested positive for some drug or medication, with 40 percent of fatally-injured drivers testing positive for drugs.<\/p>\n The hope of state legislators is that, by enforcing stricter laws to curb drunk and drugged-driving, there will eventually be more awareness, leading to a positive reduction in the number of deaths and injuries caused by impaired drivers and decrease the havoc they create among car insurance<\/a> companies.<\/p>\n In the meantime, be responsible \u2013 don\u2019t drink or take drugs, illegal or prescription, and drive.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Driving under the influence is dangerous. But, even more so in Alabama, where nearly one-third of all deadly crashes involve drunk drivers. In recent years, while in some states there has been a mild reduction in alcohol-related traffic fatalities, the use of alcohol, particularly by male drivers between the ages of 22 to 45, continues […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2475,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2474","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-auto-insurance","category-auto-insurance-alabama"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.usagencies.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2474"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.usagencies.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.usagencies.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.usagencies.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.usagencies.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2474"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.usagencies.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2474\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4054,"href":"https:\/\/www.usagencies.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2474\/revisions\/4054"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.usagencies.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2475"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.usagencies.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.usagencies.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.usagencies.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nBecause Alabama criminalizes the operation of a motor vehicle while under the influence, injured parties or relatives of a person killed by a drunk driver can seek a negligence per se action against the guilty party. In short, if it is established that the intoxicated defendant engaged in conduct violating Alabama\u2019s DUI statute and injures another party in the process, the injured party may pursue a claim of negligence, resulting from the defendant\u2019s criminal act, against the driver and\/or his auto insurance company<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/a>
\n\u201cAggravated\u201d DUI Law<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/a>
\nAlabama\u2019s Dram Shop Law <\/strong><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n
\nDrugged-Driving Mounting Concern<\/strong><\/p>\n