Arizona Wrong Way Crashes and Drunk Drivers

Wrong way crashes in Arizona have become an all too familiar problem, sometimes with fatal consequences. The Arizona Department of Public Safety received more than 1,600 reports of wrong way drivers in 2016.

Wrong way crashes frequently occur on the Interstates and State Routes, they also occur on one way streets. Often an impaired driver is involved. Representation by an Arizona wrongful death or personal injury attorney may be necessary to assist collision victims and their families.

The Arizona Department of Transportation has placed signage at various highway exit ramps, including “Wrong Way” and “Do Not Enter Signs,” further warnings include more “Wrong Way” reflectors.

These wrong way warnings may not deter a drunk driver. Every day 28 people in the United States die in an alcohol related crash, that’s one individual every 53 minutes. Over 10,000 deaths occurred from alcohol impaired crashes in 2015. These statistics are consequences of alcohol reducing the function of the brain, reasoning, judgment and muscle coordination.

Alcohol level is measured by the weight of alcohol in a certain volume of blood, resulting in a blood alcohol concentration, or BAC. At a BAC of .08 grams of alcohol per deciliter of blood the risk of a crash dramatically increases. As a result of this risk, it is fairly uniform across the country that it is illegal to drive with a 0.08 BAC or higher.

Typical effects at .08% include reduced muscle coordination (balance, speech, vision, reaction time, hearing), reasoning and memory are impaired, all of which predictably adversely affect driving. At .15% there is far less muscle control, there’s major loss of balance, substantial impairment in vehicle control, attention to driving task, and in necessary auditory information processing.

Approximately one third of all traffic crash fatalities involve drunk drivers, those with blood alcohol concentrations of .08 or higher. Men are more likely than women to be driving drunk in fatal crashes.

A Phoenix, Arizona wrongful death or personal injury lawyer may be able to help the victims of wrong way drivers, or drunk drivers.