Dallas Fort Worth Injury Lawyer Blog
Don’t Drink and Drive written on the road
Richardson, Texas Driver Arrested For Drunk Driving Following Deadly Crash. Plano Police have arrested and charged a Richardson man with intoxication manslaughter after a deadly crash on January 30.
Angel Velasco, 34, of Richardson, was charged with the crime. According to the police, the tragic accident happened on a Sunday mid-morning at the intersection of Jupiter Rd and E. Plano Pkwy.
The Plano Police Traffic Unit and eyewitness reports noted that a 2006 red Chrysler Town and Country van, driven by Velasco, was northbound on Jupiter Rd and ran the red light, crashing into a 2019 white Hyundai Electra that was westbound on E. Plano Pkwy.
Marcus Jarod Gerald, 39, of Mullins, South Carolina, the driver of the white Hyundai died.
Drunk Driving-Huge avoidable problem
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, NHTSA, about 28 people in the United States die daily in drunk-driving crashes — that’s one person every 52 minutes. These are shocking statistics and hundreds of people and families are impacted by this tragic totally avoidable daily loss. In 2019, these deaths reached the lowest percentage since 1982 when NHTSA started reporting alcohol data — but still, 10,142 people lost their lives. These deaths were all preventable.
How Alcohol affects driving ability
Alcohol reduces brain function, impairs thinking, blunts reasoning, and slows muscle coordination, leading to slow reaction times. All these higher brain functions are essential to operating any vehicle safely.
As alcohol levels rise in a person’s system, the negative effects on the central nervous system increase. Alcohol is absorbed directly through the walls of the stomach and small intestine. Then it passes into the bloodstream where it accumulates until it is metabolized by the liver.
A person’s alcohol level is measured by the weight of the alcohol in a certain volume of blood. This is called Blood Alcohol Concentration, or BAC. At a BAC of .08 grams of alcohol per deciliter (g/dL) of blood, crash risk increases exponentially. Because of this risk, it’s illegal in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico to drive with a BAC of .08 or higher, except in Utah where the BAC limit is .05.
However, even a small amount of alcohol can affect driving ability. In 2019, there were 1,775 people killed in alcohol-related crashes where a driver had a BAC of .01 to .07 g/dL.
BAC is measured with a breathalyzer, a device that measures the amount of alcohol in a driver’s breath, or by a blood test.
Driving After Drinking-the deadly consequences
Driving after drinking is deadly, but unfortunately, it continues to happen frequently across the United States. If you drive while impaired by alcohol, you could get arrested, or be involved in a traffic wreck that causes catastrophic injury or death.
Approximately one-third of all traffic crash deaths in the United States involve drunk drivers (with BACs of .08 g/dL or higher). In 2019, there were 10,142 people killed in these totally preventable and avoidable crashes. In fact, on average over the 10-year period from 2010 to 2019, more than 10,000 people died every year in drunk-driving crashes.
In every state, it’s illegal to drive drunk, yet one person was killed in a drunk-driving crash every 52 minutes in the United States in 2019.
What Dallas Personal Injury Lawyer Dr. Shezad Malik can do to Help
If you or a loved one has been seriously injured in an alcohol or drug-related accident, contact us today at 214-390-3189. Our goal is for drunk drivers to pay for the injuries and devastation that they cause to their victims and to their victims’ families. Only by making drunk driving offenders accountable for their actions will future victims be spared.
The Dr. Shezad Malik Law Firm gives personalized attention to the needs of each client by overseeing all aspects of a drunk-driving accident claim. We coordinate medical payments, organize documentation, and support each client through the difficult claims process.
When someone is killed in a crash with a drunk driver, we launch a personal injury claim to help families recover from the financial devastation caused by the death of their loved ones.
Contact Dr. Shezad Malik today to learn more about your rights and options. Drunk driving is the most frequently committed violent crime in our country. And, in Texas, this crime is committed more frequently than in any other state.