Personal Injury Cases – Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone & Morelli

The month of December is a great time to enjoy holiday activities throughout Hartford, Manchester, New Haven and surrounding locations. Sometimes, however, those holiday activities involve the consumption of alcohol. While having a drink or two in celebration of the festive season is not a problem, it becomes a major issue if you consume alcohol and then decide to get behind the wheel of a car.

A personal injury lawyer knows an increase in drunk driving-related fatalities occurs each year from Thanksgiving to New Years Day. December is one of the worst months for drunk driving accidents and fatalities, and it is also the time of year when numerous campaigns are launched to try to prevent these types of collisions.

Preventing December Drunk Driving Accidents and Fatalities

Prevention of drunk driving accidents in December is very important to keep the public safe. Every year in the United States, around 10,000 people are killed in collisions involving impaired drivers. According to True Car, there are also around 600,000 people who suffer injuries. Around three in 10 Americans will be personally involved in a crash involving an intoxicated motorist, and the cost of impaired driving accidents exceeds $51 billion annually within this country.

The holidays, especially the days surrounding Christmas and the days surrounding New Years, have a higher-than-normal percentage of deadly crashes caused by impaired motorists. Public education efforts aim to prevent this by reminding people of the danger of driving while under the influence.

Anti-drunk driving campaigns have been going on during the month of December since 1982, when President Ronald Reagan declared that December would be National Drunk and Drugged Driving Prevention Month. In 2010, President Barack Obama changed the designation of this month to National Impaired Driving Prevention Month. Part of the reason for the change was to also draw attention to the problem of driving while distracted.

Since 41 percent of crashes within the United States are related to impaired driving, public education efforts on preventing drunk driving crashes could make a big different in saving lives. As part of the public education efforts this December, advice is provided to individuals about how to reduce the chances of a crash happening during the course of the month.

Party hosts can play a role in reducing the chances of drunk driving crashes happening. They can do this by stopping the serving of alcoholic beverages around an hour or so before their guests will be leaving for the night. It is also a good idea for those hosting holiday parties to make sure they have drinks around that are non-alcoholic for the designated drivers and to have a plan to help guests get home in case someone at the event ends up having too much to drink.

Of course, ultimately drivers are the ones who need to stay sober to avoid holiday drunk driving crashes. Drivers are encouraged to find a designated driver who will take them home. They should do this before they start drinking so they have a plan in place, and they should also have a backup plan in case something goes wrong. If drivers take the risks seriously, hopefully they can avoid getting into accidents that hurt themselves or others.

Contact a Hartford accident attorney today at the Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone & Morelli. Calling 1-800-WIN-WIN-1 for your free case consultation or visit http://www.salomoneandmorelli.com.  Also serving New Britain and Norwich to Manchester, New Haven and the Waterbury-area.

Drunk driving has a tremendous cost to individuals and to society. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHSTA) has published a report about the societal costs of impaired driving. A personal injury lawyer knows more than 10,000 people die each year due to impaired driving, and the cost of these losses to the grieving family members left behind is not measurable in dollars. In just the state of Connecticut alone, 85 people lost their lives in 2012 according to Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

Measuring The Costs of Impaired Driving

According to the NHTSA, the direct financial costs of impaired driving totaled at $47 billion in economic loss in 2010. At this amount, this means that the costs of drunk driving were $152 per person in the United States. Once loss of life and lost qualify of life was factored in, the costs of impaired driving reached $195 billion per year.

Each individual person or family affected by an accident has costs to pay. For a minor injury caused by a driver with a blood-alcohol content of .08, the average cost in actual economic loss is $22,000. There are also additional losses associated with impaired quality of life, which reach a total of $25,000.

For individuals who suffer catastrophic injuries as a result of an impaired driving crash, the economic losses from the injuries can reach $1.1 million and loss of quality of life may be as much as $5 million.

The people who face these costs are often innocent victims who did not make the choice to drive drunk. In 35 percent of collisions with impaired drivers, the victims are non-occupants of motor vehicles (like bike riders or walkers) or are either passengers in the drunk driver’s car or other motorists on the road.

Protecting the public and preventing collisions is a top goal for the NHTSA. One recent campaign was organized by the NHTSA and involved more than 10,000 police departments throughout the country. The campaign was called Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over and it ran from August 15 through Labor Day weekend. It included both added enforcement as well as educational efforts like commercials warning the public about drunk driving.

Although the campaign is over now, enforcement efforts have not stopped and drivers need to continue to follow the laws prohibiting impaired driving. It is very clear that driving while impaired significantly increases the risk of collisions. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention summarize the impacts of alcohol on the body, which start with a blood-alcohol concentration of just .02 percent.

At a BAC of .02, you may have impaired judgment, more difficulty multi-tasking and reduced visual function. At a BAC of .05, your small muscle control will not be as good as when you are sober and you will also have impaired judgment and lowered levels of alertness. Difficulty steering your vehicle and a reduced ability to respond in an emergency can occur. All of this happens even before you reach the legal limit of .08. Once you have consumed enough alcohol that your BAC has reached .08, you have myriad problems, including impaired perception, and a reduced ability to control your speed or process information. You are a danger to yourself and others if you have consumed this much alcohol and you could be responsible for causing a collision.

Contact a Hartford, CT accident attorney today at the Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone & Morelli. Calling 1-800-WIN-WIN-1 for your free case consultation or visit http://www.salomoneandmorelli.com

August is the deadliest month to go boating, according to statistics compiled by the U.S. Coast Guard. In 2008, more people (112 total) died in boating accidents in August nationwide than any other month of the year. Certain days and times are also much more dangerous than others. The deadliest day of the week was Saturday: 208 deaths. And the deadliest time of day was between 4:31 p.m. and 6:30 p.m., when 112 deaths occurred.

But any time any day, the risk of being killed or injured in a boating accident is real. Just recently, two people were hospitalized after a 19-year-old Connecticut boater collided into another boat and fled the scene of the accident. Deadly boating accidents on Long Island Sound occur all too often as well.  In addition, special maritime rules may apply to accidents and injuries which occur on the water, regardless of the size of the body of water or the size of the vessel upon which an injured party is operating or a passenger.

Sometimes, you don’t even have to be on a boat to sustain an injury. People often get hurt when they slip and fall on a wet dock or boat ramp.

Overall, 709 people died, 3,331 were injured and $54.2 million worth of damage was caused by boating accidents nationwide in 2008. In Connecticut, boating accidents killed 11 people, injured 31 and caused $1,133,366 worth of damage in 2008. And in nearly half the cases (four deaths) of the 11 people killed in Connecticut in boating accidents that year, alcohol was a contributing factor.

Don’t let someone else’s reckless behavior ruin your family’s lives. If you or someone in your family has been injured or killed in a boating accident, you deserve justice. You need someone who will stand up for you and defend your rights. You need the Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone & Morelli. When you choose us, you get experienced, dedicated lawyers who will vigorously fight to get you the compensation you’re legally entitled to for your boating injury.

Don’t leave your future to chance. Take action. Contact Salomone & Morelli today. We mean business.

What day is the deadliest one on American highways? Sadly, it’s July 4^th. On average, 161 people are killed each year on this day in car accidents nationwide, making Independence Day the deadliest day on America’s highways. And right behind it, July 3^rd ranks as the second deadliest day of the year to drive.  But fatal accidents can happen at any moment, especially on busy highways like Connecticut’s Interstate 84.

The July 4^th holiday also ranks near the top for alcohol sales each year nationwide. Statistically, this holiday ranks number one – ahead of Labor Day, New Year’s Eve and Memorial Day – for beer consumption nationwide.

Not surprisingly, drunk driving can be a serious hazard facing people on the road any day in Connecticut and especially this holiday weekend. What can you do to protect yourself? How will you stay safe on the road this July 4^th?

Here’s some suggested tips aimed to keep you safe.

• Stay off the road if you don’t have to travel on July 4^th.
• If you must travel to get to your holiday destination, travel on days other than July 3^rd or 4^th.
• Drive during daylight hours. Statistically, fatal accidents involving drunk drivers are more than four times as likely to occur at night versus during the day.

Drunk drivers wreak havoc on the roads across the country. Don’t become another statistic. If you’ve been injured in a drunk driving accident, take action. Contact the Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone & Morelli. Our experienced lawyers will vigorously fight for your rights and the justice you deserve.

Don’t let someone else’s reckless behavior ruin your life. Contact Salomone & Morelli today. We’re on your side.