No matter how safe and responsible you act behind the wheel, every time you drive on a South Dakota roadway, you cannot predict with 100 percent accuracy what other drivers are going to do. Part of what makes motor vehicle collisions so devastating is how sudden and unexpected they can be. In fact, even if you notice suspicious driving behavior in another motorist, you may not be able to react swiftly and safely enough to avoid a crash.
Drunk drivers are menaces to motorists and pedestrians who share their roads. If you suffer because of another person's irresponsible choice to drive while intoxicated, injuries may reach far beyond your physical condition. The emotional and economic losses associated with drunk driving accidents can be just as damaging as physical suffering.
Drunk drivers often repeat their offenses
Did you know that before a drunk driver's first recorded offense, it is likely that he or she may have gotten behind the wheel while intoxicated at least 80 times? This is the average amount of drunk driving incidents that occur before a drunk driver is caught and taken into police custody on a first offense.
Someone will die less than an hour from now
Before the clock clicks away 60 minutes, a person in South Dakota or another state will die because of a drunk driver. Approximately every 51 minutes, a precious life is lost because someone chooses to drive under the influence of alcohol.
Not every drunk driving crash proves fatal
While many intoxicated drivers cause deadly collisions, some people survive their injuries. In fact, it is estimated that every two minutes someone in the United States suffers injury in a drunk driving accident. Calculating the number of injuries in a 24-hour period shows just how damaging such behavior can be.
Many people believe misguided information that says choosing one type of alcohol over another will prevent intoxication. It is simply not true, and what's more, the way alcohol affects your body is going to be different than the way it affects another person. There are no set amounts of alcohol that cause intoxication in all people. It varies by person and can even affect the same person differently between incidents.
Recovering your losses
It's understandable that you'd feel angry at a drunk driver who caused you or your loved one to suffer injury. Such accidents often cause frustration in victims because they know their injuries could have been prevented were it not for the other drivers' negligence. Fortunately, state law allows you to seek full recovery for your losses in a civil court against any driver whose negligence caused you physical, economic or emotional loss.
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