Recently, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reported that an Acworth, GA man was killed near Cobb Parkway after his pickup stalled and he was out putting cones on the side of the road when he was struck and killed by a drunk driver. This is a very unfortunate situation that could have been avoided on at least two accounts. First, the man should have left his vehicle when it stalled, gotten as far away from his vehicle as possible, and called 911 for assistance.
This is a very common mistake that drivers make when their vehicle stalls or they have a flat tire is to stay near the vehicle. For example, in another recent event, two women had a flat tire on a busy freeway here in Atlanta, Georgia and two young men stopped to help fix the flat tire. Both young men were struck and killed by a passing car.
Second, and foremost, is that nobody should be drinking and driving at any level here in Georgia. The young man who was drinking and driving in the incident who killed the Cobb County man was arrested and charged on multiple counts including, but not limited to, first-degree homicide by vehicle. The hit and run drivers in the other incident were also caught and charged as well.
Although the legal alcohol limit allows for a small trace of alcohol (less than .08) to legally be present in a person’s system when driving, all people register this small amount of alcohol differently. Therefore, it is the best practice not to drink and drive at all. Designate a sober driver if you are going to be drinking. Take a cab. Ask for a ride from a sober driver that you know. Do anything in your power not to get behind the wheel even though you may feel fine to drive if you have been drinking.
As we have seen recently in the National News, Driving Under the Influence not only applies to driving after drinking, it can apply to driving after taking medications. As we have witnessed in the trial of a famous Kennedy, she was under the influence of the popular sleeping pill Ambien (a/k/a zolpidem) when she ran into a tree while driving. Thankfully, nobody was hurt, but this could have ended in the same terrible tragedies that we have recently seen here in Georgia. There have been thousands of cases reported where people are “hung over” from sleeping pills and have been pulled over and arrested for Driving Under the Influence.
This not only applies to sleeping pills but many medications that are commonly found in our medicine cabinets. We must heed these warnings from the manufacturers of these drugs and not drive when under the influence of any mind altering substance to avoid these senseless tragedies.
If you or a loved one has been injured or killed in an accident where alcohol or any mind altering substance has been involved, you are entitled to compensation to the full extent of the law and, in many of these cases, this includes punitive damages as well. We are experts in representing people who have been injured or killed in these types of serious accidents and we urge you to Contact Us immediately if you have been a victim of this type of senseless tragedy.
We also want you to be safe on the roadways and if your vehicle stalls on the side of the road, or you have a flat tire, no matter how busy the traffic or what time of the day, move yourself and all your passengers immediately away from your vehicle and call 911 immediately for assistance. Do not risk life and limb in these situations. We want the roadways to be safe for everyone.