Tweet

Drinking and Driving = Consequences

Guest post by: Richard Rondeau

Article Overview: Drunk driving is widely understood to be risky and dangerous, not only to the driver and passengers but also to other people on the road, including drivers and pedestrians. Four out of every ten fatal car accidents in the United States are alcohol-related. Each year, 25,000 people die and 708,000 are injured in alcohol-related collisions. Alcohol-related crashes result in the death of 500 people per week, or more than 70 every day. Statistically, half of all Americans will be involved in an alcohol-related car accident in their lifetime. Despite these alarming statistics, it happens all around us every day. Far too often, who have been drinking fail to heed the potential consequences, and get behind the wheel of a car.

Drinking and Driving = Consequences

Drunk driving is widely understood to be risky and dangerous, not only to the driver and passengers but also to other people on the road, including drivers and pedestrians. Four out of every ten fatal car accidents in the United States are alcohol-related. Each year, 25,000 people die and 708,000 are injured in alcohol-related collisions. Alcohol-related crashes result in the death of 500 people per week, or more than 70 every day. Statistically, half of all Americans will be involved in an alcohol-related car accident in their lifetime. Despite these alarming statistics, it happens all around us every day. Far too often, who have been drinking fail to heed the potential consequences, and get behind the wheel of a car.

In addition to lives lost and injuries sustained, there are other far-reaching consequences of car accidents caused by drunk drivers. These consequences are financial as well as physical. Drunk driving costs American taxpayers between 21 and 24 billion dollars each year, according to a recent study. More generally, according to National Geographic, alcohol abuse costs $136 billion each year in the United States alone.

If you are injured by a drunk driver, you may be entitled to compensation. Settlements stemming from a drunk driving accident typically include coverage for medical treatment, lost wages, and emotional distress. Cases against the drunk driver often include punitive damages, which are meant to punish reckless drivers and discourage such conduct in the future. If you have been involved in a car accident with someone driving drunk, contact a car accident lawyer who can help you hold the driver legally and financially responsible for your injuries and other damages. If a loved one has been killed by an accident involving a drunk driver, contact a wrongful death lawyer. Although money can't bring your family member back, it may prevent the person responsible from driving drunk in the future. Don't let drunk drivers get away with endangering the lives of other; get the compensation you deserve by holding the driver accountable for driving while drunk.

Drunk driving has profound affects not only on those injured in the accident, but also on the driver. Causing an accident while driving drunk can result in serious, long-lasting legal consequences. In addition to settlement claims by injured parties, a drunk driver who causes an accident faces a number of legal charges, depending on the severity of the accident. At the very least, these include an arrest for DUI, which can come with fines, license suspension, and a range of other penalties. Other charges could include wrongful death, reckless driving, and an array of other criminal charges stemming from driving drunk and the resulting accident, all of which will require the help of a DUI lawyer or criminal defense attorney. In addition to legal consequences, the driver will also have to live with more personal effects, such as the guilt of recklessly destroying the lives of other people. Protect yourself and others from drunk driving accidents by never drinking and driving.

Related Articles
  Prom and Underage Drinking: A Parent's Guide to Keeping Kids Safe
  Steps To Take At Home
  This Holiday Season - Heed MADD's Message
  Entrepreneurs Should Donate Time to Help Good Causes Such As Combatting Drunk Driving Says Michigan Car Accident Attorney
  Auto Insurance Companies Write Off High Risk Drivers
  Young Car Insurance Buyers: A Teen Driver’s Guide to Car Insurance
  My Sales Force Won't Use CRM
  Government Takeover Just Doesn't Work
  Motivation with consequences
  Driving Smart: A Guide for Parents and Teens
  Teenage Wasteland? It Doesn't Have To Be!
  10 Tips for Parents of Ohio Teens
  Keep Your Communities Safe
  Unintended Consequences of Hybrid Vehicles
  How To Drive Your Business
  The Laws of Execution - How to Systematically Get Things Done - Five Part Series - Part Five
  Parent Rules Do Affect Teens' Choices Re: Drinking
  Health Habits: Watch The Hidden Calories
  Sure Fire Confidence Builders
  Big Bird’s Guide to Change Management - Learn your A, B, C, Ds

Article Tags: alarming statistics, car accident, collisions, consequences, crashes, drunk driving, fatal car accidents, lifetime, pedestrians, wheel
Referred by: http://www.westwindcos.com



Related Forum Posts
Re: What Do You Want To Be Taught? - Hi Jeff Thanks for this forum it is a big help. My biggest problem is very much like GT. Driving traffic to my website and getting more sales. MichelleJ
Profile: Julia Cameron: journalist, screenwriter, poet, nove - Julia Cameron will be one of our featured speakers at the Ladies Who Launch NYC Speaker Series taking place on April 28. Click for more info. Julia Cameron is an accomplished journalist, screenwriter, poet, novelist, and playwright. But mention her name in conversation and inevitably it will be linked with The Artist's Way, a workbook for those looking to discover or re-discover their creative selves, which was initially published in 1992 and has sold over 3 million copies. Cameron grew up in Chicago and began her career writing for the Washington Post and Rolling Stone (where she met director Martin Scorsese, whom she married in 1975 and later divorced). While married to Scorsese, she worked on the screenplays for two of his major films: Taxi Driver and New York, New York. Cameron's first musical, Avalon, was staged in 1998. At 60, Cameron continues to follow the advice she espouses in The Artist's Way: jotting down her thoughts daily in her "morning pages" and channeling her artistic vision into a variety of projects. Below, read how Cameron fends off writer's block (yes, even she suffers from it sometimes), calls on friends for guidance, and dispels the myth that writers need to be miserable to be good. what we learned from julia: "If you're good at doing one thing, you should keep doing it. In England, writers are novelists, playwrights—the word 'writer' covers a wider spectrum of activity." She also said to take a bet on yourself; she did, and it's paid off. her true calling "I was born to write. All my brothers and sisters—there are seven of us altogether—are in the arts. My father was in advertising and mom had a master's degree in English and wrote poetry. By the time I was in sixth grade with Mrs. Klopsch, I was already writing short stories and poems." investigating journalism "My goal was to write short stories. When I was offered a job at the Washington Post, it seemed like a good way to kill two birds with one stone. I enjoy writing in any form. I was proud of my Rolling Stone pieces. I wrote one about E. Howard Hunt's children. I remember getting in trouble with William F. Buckley. He called my house in Chicago because he thought it was a terrible thing I'd interviewed the children—he was their godfather. My first taste of celebrity was getting a good scolding. During my 20s I was a blind beginner. In my 30s I was a lot more conscious about what I wrote." screenwriting savvy "My early screenwriting was for my husband at the time, Martin Scorsese. I worked on Taxi Driver and on New York, New York. When Marty and I got divorced, I had a screenwriting career to pursue. I sold movies to Paramount. They bought the movie but didn't make it. I was frustrated, so I took the money I earned writing for Miami Vice and made a feature film in Chicago." sobering experience "1978 is the year that I got sober. My wild ways came screeching to a halt. I needed to find a way to write sober. I had always associated writing with drinking. We have a mythology around creativity that's destructive. We think you have to be broke, alone, neurotic, addicted. None of these things is true. When I got sober, I had to find a way to work soberly. I was 29, and I had a daughter who was a year old." do it for love, not money "I've never had to be paid to write. I published two novels. I have a musical opening in Chicago in the fall. Last year I had a play in L.A. The trick is to not need a guarantee and to be willing to write no matter what. Right now I'm writing a sequel to [my novel] Mozart's Ghost, which came out on Valentine's Day. I did the novel without a contract. I bet on myself." the power of friendship "It helps if you have friends who believe in you. My friends read my first drafts. A lot of times they will believe in a project when I'm getting rejected. We underestimate the importance of having one strong friend. The telephone is a wonderful ally to combat the isolation of being a writer, as is e-mail. If you know what your friends are doing, it's harder to feel lonely. I also think writing is its own companion. You're not lonely when you're actually writing." a typical day, the artist's way "I get up late. If I can, it's noon. I write my morning pages first thing. I ask for guidance and sit quietly and see if there's anything I need to be doing. I usually work on the music [for my upcoming musical]. I have a collaborator, Emma Lively, and we've written three musicals together. We work for a few hours. Then I put in a couple hours of prose writing. I sometimes don't get out of the house until 5:30. I try to get a walk in every day." overcoming writer's block "I use the same unblocking tools that I teach my students. They make you much more alert to the signals. I grapple with writer's block right away. Morning pages [three pages of writing about anything that comes to your head] are one such tool. I've been writing them for 25 years. In The Artist's Way, I also write about "blasting through blocks." By listing any angers, fears, and resentments related to a project, that often clears the decks right away. Emma and I have been hired to write music for a one-woman show. I feel blocked around it. I take a look at my ego—I'm not used to working FOR people anymore. I need to be a beginner again. Hopefully once I surrender my need to be the boss, it'll work out." favorite books "Tim Farrington is my favorite writer. He's written two books—The Monk Downstairs and The Monk Upstairs. He's so funny and deft, and he was the inspiration for me to write Mozart's Ghost. I dedicated the book to him." daily must-reads "I read a little teeny book called Twenty-Four Hours a Day that was put out by Hazelden. It's a meditation book. I also read Creative Ideas by theologian Ernest Holmes, which was originally published in 1934. They just re-released it, and I wrote the intro. Right now I'm reading My First Five Husbands by Rue McClanahan and Drinking: A Love Story, a memoir by Caroline Knapp." most rewarding career moment "I think I'm sort of singular in that I like book tours. I meet people who say I used your tools and they changed my life and this is what I did with them." scariest career moment "Watching my first musical go up in 1998. It's scary. I just heard the music so beautifully in my head that it was hard to deal with some of the compromises of getting it on the stage. I was sitting in the back of the theater saying, 'It's brilliant. It's awful." on networking "I think it's most important that we do the work and then have something to network about. Sometimes people want networking to be a shortcut or a guarantee. Networking gives you a sense of the possible. I have a number of women friends in their 70s and 80s and they are a tremendous source of inspiration. One runs a horse ranch. One got a master's in poetry at 75. One is in her 80s and is still an active actress. I believe that other women are inspirational." parting thoughts... -"I am happiest when ... I'm writing." -"Success to me means ... creativity." -"The public figure I wish most would read The Artist's Way is ... Warren Beatty. I don't know if he has." -"I will always think of myself as ... a good horseback rider." -"My business would not have happened if ... I waited for guarantees." -"The most important thing I do every day is ... stay sober. I have 30 years without a drink." This Featured Lady was profiled by Michele Shapiro, a writer living in New York City.


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

SEO Gurus, Software and Ebooks

How to Ask for a Flexible Work Arrangement

Ten Things You Can Do To Be a Better Leader

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.