In spite of ever-stricter laws, tough media scrutiny, and scores of groups dedicated to its eradication, the problem of drunk driving remains a huge public safety concern in California and across the nation. According to experts on the topic, drunk drivers kill an average of 12,000 people every year in the United States. That’s about 33 people a day. Our San Diego car accident lawyer knows that those figures do not even account for the many more people who are seriously injured in these accidents each and every day.
One such incident occurred this week right here in San Diego. Local television station News 10 reported that two young women were struck by an apparently drunk man around 2:30 a.m. on Friday as they were attempting to cross 63rd Street near San Diego State University. The two women were dragged about 30 feet by the vehicle before they were freed. The driver, upon realizing that he had hit them, pulled over and stopped his car. A witness to the incident approached the vehicle with the intention of ensuring that the driver did not try to run away and observed that the driver appeared to be intoxicated. Police were summoned to the scene, where they conducted a sobriety test and then arrested the driver.
There is never an excuse for driving while intoxicated. Anyone who drives drunk puts the lives of everyone else on the road, including pedestrians, at risk. Here in San Diego, in addition to public transportation options, there are even two companies – BeMyDD and Safe Ride Solutions – who provide driving services in which someone will actually come and drive the vehicle home so that the owner does not have to retrieve it the following day. These companies operate specifically to assist people who have had too much to drink and should not be driving.