Dram Shops and Drunk Drivers – Death From A Bottle
Driving is a privilege, not a right. Too many drivers do not take the proper responsibility to handle their motor vehicle in a safe manner. It is a sad fact that far too often a driver is intoxicated and causes an accident that results in serious injury or death to the other party. The Philadelphia auto accident attorneys at the law firm of Reiff & Bily have been researching and successfully handling drunk driver cases since 1979.
The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDot) reports that in 2005, drunk driving was responsible for 12,590 crashes, 313 of them being fatal. One alarming concern was that 22% of driver deaths between the ages of 16 to 20 (under the legal age of 21) were drunk drivers. Of the age group 21-35, 50% of driver deaths were drunk drivers. In total, 580 people died in alcohol-related crashes. On average, each day there was 36 alcohol-related traffic crashes with 1.6 people killed and 29 injured. Most alcohol-related crashes occurred between midnight and 4 AM on the weekends.
A Pennsylvania uninsured motorist accident is common, in general, but especially so for drunk drivers. Often, drunk drivers do not have insurance or not enough insurance coverage for damages. Often drunk driving could be avoided with help from others. It is always a good idea to have a designated driver and never drive after drinking. Some bars and restaurants have a breath alcohol content (BAC) machine, which will tell you if you are over the legal limit. The key to stop drunk driving is prevention; prevent someone who has had too much to drink from getting behind that wheel.
The dram shop, the establishment that sold the alcohol to the driver, may be liable for the car accident and any injuries that resulted due to drunk driving. Under Pennsylvania's dram shop laws, a bar, tavern, pub, restaurant, night clubs, or other liquor selling establishments (and in some cases company events or private parties) can be held responsible if they illegally sold liquor to a person who injured someone in a car accident while driving under the influence of alcohol. An illegal sale of alcohol is the serving or selling alcohol to either a minor, to someone “after-hours," to a person who is visibly or obviously intoxicated, or selling without a liquor license.
Employees of bars and restaurants that sell alcohol should be trained to watch for common signs of intoxication such as slurred speech and decreased motor function, however, profit and reluctance to anger a customer often prevent employees from cutting off services to clearly intoxicated patrons. Encouragement, such as aggressive selling, or failure to prevent alcoholic beverage being serviced to intoxicated customers or minors by employees may also make the dram shop liable for the drunk driving accident and any injuries sustained to a 3rd party.
There are three important factors to automobile accidents: (1) establishing liability; (2) establishing damages; and (3) determining where to collect the damages. If the drunk driver is uninsured/underinsured, it is important that you have proper insurance coverage or know where to look for the proper coverage to be compensated for your injury. Philadelphia personal injury and drunk driver accident lawyer Jeffrey Reiff and the experienced Pennsylvania DUI accident lawyers at Reiff & Bily will examine the facts, evaluate your claim, determine which parties and insurance companies are responsible, and organize all of the details of preparing and presenting your case and will represent you aggressively to ensure that you are properly compensated.
The Pennsylvania automobile accident and personal injury lawyers at Reiff & Bily work on a contingent fee basis, charging a small percentage of the recovery. They will not get paid one cent unless there is a successful recovery. They have had handled many drunk driving cases and have successfully recovered in excess of $150 million dollars from their opponents for physical injuries and emotional damages.
If you are in need of an attorney because you or someone you love has suffered a serious injury as a result of an automobile accident involving a drunk driver, please call the experienced vehicle accident attorneys in Pennsylvania at the law firm of Reiff & Bily.
