Missouri Accident Lawyer Says Drugged Driving Needs More Study & Attention

Post Date: January 31st, 2011

Drivers know how dangerous it is to combine alcohol or drugs with driving, but still many lives are lost each year to the combination. Serious injury or a fatality as the result of impaired driving are devastating, but Missouri car accident attorneys can use the defendant’s actions to positively affect the outcome of an injury or wrongful death claim. There is a lot of information available for alcohol-related car accidents, but very little information on drug-related car accidents.

A new National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) report on drug use in fatal car accidents was released. There have been numerous studies on how alcohol contributes to fatal car accidents, but this is the first study that addresses the issue of drug impairment contributions to car accidents. The study only focused on accidents that resulted in a fatality, but it verifies that more effort needs to be put into training officers of the law to spot drug impairment. According to the 2009 study, 21,798 were killed in a motor vehicle accident. Of the fatalities, 13,750 were test for drug use by the NHTSA. Out of the fatalities tested for drugs, 3,952 drivers tested positive for a narcotic at the time of the crash.

The data may show a strong correlation between alcohol and car accidents, but more studies need to be done to have conclusive evidence that drug impairment has the same correlation. As an effort to gather more information, over 6,000 law enforcement officers from 46 states have trained to recognize a driver who is impaired by both drugs and alcohol. With more information, victims of both alcohol and drug-related accident will have a better outcome in a civil court. If you have been injured or lost a loved on in an alcohol-related accident, call 888.956.2487 to speak to an experienced Missouri car accident attorney to discuss your claim.

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Joshua P. Myers is the owner and President of Myers Injury Law, LLC and a founding partner of Schultz & Myers, LLC. Based in St. Louis, Missouri, his personal injury law firm routinely handles motor vehicle accidents that result in personal injury or death throughout the Midwest. If you have been hurt or have lost a loved one due to the negligence of another driver, please contact a motor vehicle accident attorney to learn your rights. It is always free to discuss your case and there are never any attorney’s fees until we recover on your behalf.

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