How is fault determined after suffering injury by a drunk driver?

One moment you’re driving along, maybe you’re commuting to work or maybe you’re picking up your kid from practice. The next thing you remember you’re waking up in a hospital bed, loved ones by your side. It’s hard to come to terms with how you got from here to there – you might be wondering what happened. This is the reality for many who are injured in an accident with a drunk driver.

In any accident where serious injuries are suffered, the authorities will come in and conduct an investigation into the details of the car accident. If it’s suspected that a driver was impaired and caused a drunk driving accident, authorities may test BAC level or do sobriety tests, among other facets of any investigation, to help to determine fault. Other facts about the crash or the timeline of events leading up to a crash, can help to determine intoxication or impairment as well. When armed with that information, what do you do next?

The criminal portion of the justice system may already be at work, seeking to prosecute for criminal behaviors of a driver behind the wheel. However, the injured has the right to seek a personal injury suit that, if successful, would yield damages for the injured. Fault is based on negligence. All drivers owe themselves and others a duty of care when they get behind the wheel, failure to do so is negligence.

Drunk driving accidents are something that everyone hopes or thinks won’t happen to them. However, for the unlucky few that do experience it, our legal system is constructed to help the injured collect what is rightfully theirs. It has to be sought out, it’s not something that will be automatically placed in the injured individual’s lap.