Drunk Driving Crackdown

As an experienced Nashville automobile accident lawyer I am all too aware of the dangers posed by the holiday season. Fortunately for all Tennesseans the fatality rate for drunk driving collisions is steadily decreasing year after year. But those statistics offer little hope to families who lose loved ones to drunk drivers during the holiday season.

Drunk driving is one of America’s deadliest crimes. In 2008, 327 people died in highway crashes in Tennessee involving a driver or motorcycle rider with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of .08 or higher. That’s an 11 percent decline from the 377 alcohol-related deaths in 2007. As part of National Drunk & Drugged Driving Prevention Month, the Tennessee Highway Patrol will be stepping up its enforcement crackdown to find and remove impaired drivers from Tennessee roadways.  Troopers will be conducting more than 100 sobriety and driver license checkpoints now through the New Year’s holiday to get drunk drivers off the road.

The holiday season is one of the deadliest and most dangerous times of the year due to an increase in impaired driving.  According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, in December 2008, 888 people were killed nationwide in crashes that involved a drunk driver with a blood alcohol concentration of .08 or higher. That was down from 992 people killed in similar impaired driving crashes in 2007.  In Tennessee, in December 2008, eight people were killed in crashes that involved a drunk driver with a known BAC of .08 or higher compared to 12 people in December 2007.

“The holidays are about gathering together with friends and family to celebrate the joys of the season, but no amount of good cheer will save people from the consequences of impaired driving,” said Tennessee Highway Patrol Colonel Mike Walker. “Impaired driving is against the law and Troopers will be out in force working to save lives by making sure drunk and drugged drivers are kept off the road. If we catch you, we will arrest you. No exceptions. No excuses.”

The 2009 Christmas holiday period begins Thursday, December 24th, at 6:00 p.m., and runs through Sunday, December 27, at 11:59 p.m. During the 2008 Christmas holiday period, nine people were killed in traffic crashes on Tennessee roadways. This represents one death every 11 hours and 20 minutes. Alcohol was involved in nearly 29 percent of those crashes and four of the seven motorists killed were not wearing safety restraints.

The 2009 New Year’s holiday period begins at 6:00 p.m., Thursday, December 31, 2009, and will end 11:59 p.m. Sunday, January 3, 2010. Last year, 2008-09, 12 people were killed during the New Year’s holiday period and 42 percent of the fatalities occurred in alcohol-related crashes.

Please set an example to your friends and family, especially your teen drivers. If you drink don’t driver, if you drive don’t drink. If you observe and impaired driver identify the vehicle and call 911 or in a rural area *847 and report them. You may save a life. If you or a loved one is injured or killed in a Nashville automobile accident involving a drunk or impaired driver contact the experienced Nashville automobile accident attorney’s at Phillip Miller & Associates and take advantage of a free consultation to learn about your rights and remedies.