If you are like most people who live in Virginia, your heart sinks every time you hear or read a report about someone being hit by a drunk driver, especially if the person died in the crash. These accidents are not really accidents in the true sense of the word as they are completely preventable – if only drivers would make responsible choices. Sadly, many drivers refuse to do this.
Records from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration show that the number of drunk driving deaths in the state jumped in 2017 from 223 to 246. This was after three consecutive years of declines in the number of these fatalities. The 246 impaired vehicular deaths in 2017 represents nearly 30% of all accident fatalities statewide that year.
In looking at Fauquier County and its neighboring counties, it had the third-highest number of deaths attributed to alcohol between 2013 and 2017. In those five years, 14 people were killed in Fauquier County at the hands of drunk drivers. That is more than 24% of all traffic fatalities in the county. In Loudoun County, 25 drunk driving deaths were recorded in that time and in Prince William County, another 23 people were killed in alcohol-related crashes. In Stafford, Culpeper, Clarke, Warren and Rappahannock Counties combined, a total of 35 drunk driving fatalities happened between 2013 and 2017.
If you would like to learn more about what you can do after you or someone you love has been involved in an accident caused by a negligent drunk driver, please feel free to visit the motor vehicle accident assistance page of our Virginia personal injury website.
