Drugged Driving on the Rise
Most people associate impaired driving with drivers who have consumed alcohol. However, as more states legalize marijuana, there has been an increase of accidents with drivers under the influence of marijuana. Cannabis users are 25 percent more likely to be involved in a vehicle accident compared to people who don’t use marijuana, according to NHTSA. Similar to alcohol, marijuana can slow reaction time, impair judgment of time and distance, decrease coordination, and alter attention on the road.
Amphetamines are very frequently involved in major car accidents. Even small amounts of drugs can increase the risks of a devastating accident. Many drivers involved in serious crashes are found to have both drugs and alcohol or more than one drug in their system, which makes it challenging to determine which substance had the greater effect in the accident.
When it comes to filing litigation against an impaired driver who has caused you harm, you could be entitled to punitive damages, as well. Punitive damages are those awarded in cases of serious or malicious wrongdoing to punish and are designed as a deterrent – such as driving while impaired by drugs and/or alcohol. Burg Simpson’s drunk driving victim’s attorneys in Wyoming is dedicated to holding irresponsibly impaired drivers accountable for the injuries, deaths, and destruction they leave in their wake.
Other Types of Driver Impairments in DUI Cases
It is true that drunk driving and drug use contribute to the majority of auto accidents. However, other factors such as prescription drug abuse, fatigue, road rage, and even age can result in impaired driving.
- Prescription drugs: it is not just illegal drugs that can impair your ability to drive safely. There are dozens of completely legal prescription medications that can alter your ability to operate a motor vehicle when abused. There is a reason so many medications come with warning labels. According to the FDA, some of the drugs include prescriptions for anxiety, some antidepressants, cold remedies, allergy products, sleeping pills, and even some pain relievers. Harmful side effects for drivers can include sleepiness, blurred vision, fainting, and delayed reaction times.
- Road rage: Road rage incidents are the most extreme type of aggressive driving, which plays a role in more than half of all fatal motor vehicle accidents. AAA reports that road rage accidents injure or kill roughly 1,700 drivers every year.
- Age: At a certain age, our ability to drive can even become impaired. In 2015, more than 40 million drivers on the road were 65 or older – a 50 percent jump compared to 1999.
Employer Liability for Impaired Truck Drivers
Sometimes employees of companies choose to drive impaired while on the job. For example, semi-truck drivers often use illegal drugs and stimulants to keep themselves awake through long hours on the road. In other cases, in an employer knew or should have expected that its employees posed a danger to the public because of a driving record dotted with drunk driving convictions or positive drug tests, that employer could be responsible for a claim of compensation. Such cases may also include jury verdicts that include punitive damages as a way to punish the company for its irresponsible business practices. If an impaired truck driver has hit you, call our Wyoming drunk driving victim’s attorneys today!
Employer liability for employees who drive while drunk falls into one of two types: employee negligence or vicarious liability. Employee negligence can involve careless hiring practices and/or supervision of an employee. This ranges from not running a proper background check on an employee or not employing and/or communicating proper safety policies and procedures. Examples include truck drivers with a bad driving record or an employer sending workers into a plant without any safety training.
Vicarious liability is a doctrine of law that insists the actions of one party (in this case the employee), is essentially the same as the party (the employer) directing the employee. For example, if an employer sends an employee out to pick up a vehicle and wrecks the car on the way back, the employer could be liable. However, if the employee stops to pick up his dry cleaning on the way back and hits another customer in the parking lot, he is not operating as an agent of the company, so the employer typically is not responsible.
Contact a Burg Simpson Drunk Driving Victim’s Attorneys in Wyoming Now
If you have been injured by a drunk, high, or otherwise impaired driver, it is critical that you reach out to Burg Simpson’s drunk driving victim’s attorneys in Wyoming as soon as possible. We are dedicated to helping anyone injured by drunk and otherwise impaired drivers who have been negligent. We want to help you on the road to recovery just as much as we want to prevent these offenders from hurting anyone else in the future.
Our experienced trial lawyers have decades of experience and have helped thousands of victims recover from serious personal injuries at the hands of impaired drivers. We are here to help you rebuild your life and help punish impaired drivers to keep them off the road. Our drunk driving victim’s attorneys in Wyoming have the resources to help victims navigate the many legal issues that surround auto accidents involving drunk drivers. Our extensive experience includes accident and medical investigation, insurance claims, settlement negotiations, and litigating in court against the responsible party, whether it is an individual or a corporation.
