Chicago Drunk Driving Accident Injures Four and Kills One
Four people sustained critical injuries and one person was killed in a Chicago car accident involving a drunk driver in Woodlawn on Sunday night. The person that died was a passenger in the car driven by an alleged drunk driver, who drove into another vehicle and then a light pole, which then landed on a 9-year-old pedestrian. The child is reportedly in stable condition at the University of Chicago Corner Children’s Hospital. Another car accident victim reportedly sustained a broken arm.
In another Chicago car accident on Sunday, two police officers ended up in the hospital after the squad car they were riding in was broadsided by a Honda. The driver, 20, is accused of ignoring a traffic control device at Elston and Albany and t-boning the squad car. Aggravated DUI charges against the motorist may be pending, in addition to driving without insurance and driving without a license charges.
According to a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration roadside survey, in 2007 2.2% of drivers had a BAC of .08% or greater—a significant decline compared to the number of drunk drivers (7.5% were legally drunk) that were surveyed in 1973. Despite the fact that there are less drunk drivers on US roads than their used to be, drunk driving is still a cause of way too many Chicago car crashes.
Drunk driving is negligent driving and a drunk driver can be sued for Chicago personal injury if he or she causes serious injury or wrongful death during an Illinois car accident.
The recent NHTSA survey also went on to note that for the first time, 16.3% of the nighttime weekend drivers surveyed tested positive for drugs, with cocaine, marijuana, and methamphetamine the most commonly drugs detected. Not only can taking drugs impair a driver’s ability to drive safely, but these narcotics can stay in the motorist’s system for weeks—making it hard to know if these drugs were a contributing factor in causing a Chicago car accident days after they were ingested.
One dead, four critically hurt in Woodlawn Crash, Chicago Sun-Times, July 27, 2009
Drunken driver injures two cops, WBBM 780, July 27, 2009
Study finds decline in alcohol use by drivers, AP, July 13, 2009
Related Web Resources:
NHTSA
Contact Chicago car crash attorney Steve Malman.
