The Dangers of Driving Under the Influence

Hopefully, we don’t need to tell you the dangers of driving under the influence. Driving with alcohol in your system can lead to all kinds of hazardous situations on the road. Alcohol seriously reduces your ability to concentrate and coordinate your movements. Driving under the influence is also a felony. In addition to causing serious injuries and death, a driver charged with drunk driving often faces a lot of legal fees and loss of driving privileges.

You don’t have to think too hard to see how drivers who aren’t concentrating or have slowed reaction responses can catastrophically affect scores of other people on the road.

From grievous injuries to death, we continue to see car accidents related to driving under the influence in the United States. In fact, about 29 Americans are killed every day due to drunk driving, while 800 are injured every day in such accidents. When injury and death are preventable, it is the definition of tragic and negligent.

Those who become injured due to drunk drivers’ negligent actions may have the right to collect compensation for what they have suffered. If this kind of tragedy has happened to you, call The Cagle Law Firm. A drunk driving accident lawyer in St. Louis, MO, will listen to your story and start helping you to recover your life again.

In the meantime, it’s vital to understand how driving under the influence affects the drivers themselves and all those around them.

1. Alcohol Slows Response Times

The federal limit on blood alcohol content is 0.08%. People who drink more than that amount of alcohol and then get behind the wheel of a car are already impaired in all kinds of ways.

One of those ways is slowed response times. Alcohol in your blood prevents you from thinking straight and responding to external stimuli as you usually could. Therefore, drivers under the influence of alcohol may or may not notice themselves drifting toward other cars on the highway or approaching a stop sign and yet fail to correct their actions in time. They may not even notice these actions at all.

Major accidents can happen as a result, leading to injuries to all parties.

1. Alcohol Diminishes Concentration

This point on concentration is similar to the previous item on response times. When you’ve had a few drinks and then get in a car, you will not be able to concentrate as you ordinarily would.

Concentration is everything when you’re driving. It could be the difference between life and death. Drunk drivers who can’t concentrate are likely unaware of their speed or location on the road. They may miss road signs, traffic lights, and pedestrians up ahead.

These are all crucial things to miss. If you were injured by the inattentive driving of a drunk driver, the accident may have resulted from one or several of these factors.

1. Alcohol Degrades Your Judgment

Good judgment is one of the most crucial skills people need to be safe on the road while driving. While most people follow the rules of the road, we always have to be mindful of those drivers who run a red light or weave between cars to try to get ahead. It is sometimes our ability to respond to such events that keep us alive.

Drunk drivers, however, tend to exhibit poor judgment or none at all when they start driving. If they are merging onto a highway, their lack of judgment might tell them to get into the next lane as fast as possible despite being oncoming trucks.

We don’t have to tell you the tragic events that can happen from that kind of decision.

1. Alcohol while Driving Can Ruin Your Life

Finally, driving under the influence can be devastating for the drunk drivers themselves. From injury to property loss to fines and imprisonment, there’s almost no end to the troubles you can get into from committing a DUI.

Further, drunk drivers who injure or kill others and survive must live with that guilt for the rest of their lives.

With all the destruction brought on by driving with the effects of alcohol, it’s always a better idea never to get behind the wheel after drinking. It is a good rule of personal conduct to plan your travel before you begin drinking alcohol. Many falsely believe they know their 2- to 3-drink limit, however, that may tragically translate to a higher blood alcohol level than one might anticipate.

Those innocent victims who get hurt by drunk drivers will most likely need a personal injury lawyer to make up their medical care costs and lost wages.

At The Cagle Law Firm, we will never stop fighting for the rights of accident victims. If you’ve been hurt, call us today to set up your free consultation. Call toll-free at (1-800) 685-3302 or locally at (314) 276-1681.