As Maryland auto accident lawyers, our office has represented numerous clients injured as a result of a drunk driving traffic accident. Many of these people did nothing more prior to being in a car wreck than happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Although there could be a number of reasons for the apparent increase in drunk driving accidents, a recent article points to one surprisingly sobering statistic.
According to the Washington Post, there appears to be a definite rise in the number of female drivers being arrested for drunk driving lately. Unfortunately, not every drunk driver is arrested before causing an accident. Our firm, Lebowitz & Mzhen Personal Injury Lawyers has helped many victims of drunk drivers recover costs related to severe and sometimes fatal accidents.
Maybe TV has made mid-day wine-tasting parties look fashionable, enticing stay-at-home moms and real housewives to gather at friends’ homes to sip wine or mixed drinks with their friends. And while the television characters may get home just fine, in reality the aftermath caused by a drunk driver will more than likely end up on the local news, not the prime time lineup. Drunk drivers can and do cause serious injury accidents here in Baltimore, over in D.C. and across the entire area.
According to the Post’s article, while four times as many men as women are arrested nationwide for drunk driving, the number of women facing drunk driving charges reportedly increased by 29 percent during the decade that ended in 2007. In that year, 162,493 women were arrested for driving while intoxicated, according to FBI statistics. Surprisingly, arrests of men declined more than seven percent during the same period.
If there is a silver lining to this story, fatalities involving women driving drunk are not necessarily skyrocketing. For example, in Virginia the number of highway fatalities attributed to drunk female drivers fell from 50 in 2007 to 34 last year; the number attributed to intoxicated men increased from 235 to 242. And in Maryland, the number of intoxicated women involved in fatal crashes held steady at 16 from one year to the next; the number of intoxicated men dropped from 141 in 2007 to 122 last year.
Regardless, the trend for drunk driving arrests seems to be up for women. Man or woman, the consequences of driving drunk can be devastating to the hapless victims who come into contact with these thoughtless people. If you or someone you love has been hurt in a traffic accident, I highly recommend that you contact an experienced auto accident attorney to determine your options.
Rise in Drunken-Driving Arrests of Women Deplored, WashingtonPost.com, August 20, 2009