DRUNK DRIVING TEEN LEAVES ANOTHER TEEN BRAIN DEAD
An 18-year-old with a blood-alcohol level of nearly three times the legal limit caused a one-vehicle car accident this past Friday night near Peoria. The Peoria County Sheriff's Department reports that the teen driver was evading a police officer and traveling more than 90 miles an hour when she violently veered off the road and slammed into a guardrail. The crash left her 18-year-old female passenger brain dead. The teen has been kept on life support as the family prepares for the donation of her organs.
The police pursuit began after the vehicle the impaired teen was driving was involved in a different crash. When a Peoria County deputy arrived at the scene of the first crash, the driver was outside the car, but got back in the car and sped off.
The driver, who remains in critical condition, has been ticketed for driving under the influence of alcohol, leaving the scene of a property damage accident, and fleeing and eluding a police officer.
According to Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), someone is killed by a drunk driver every 45 minutes. In 2008, an estimated 11,773 people died in drunk driving related crashes. This shockingly big number actually represents a 9.8% decline from the 13,041 deaths that resulted from driving driving crashes in 2007. Nevertheless, alcohol-impaired-driving fatalities accounted for nearly 1/3 of the total motor vehicle traffic fatalities in the United States according to The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
Shockingly, over 10% of the 159 million alcohol-impaired driving trips that Americans took in 2002 made by 18-20 year olds. Illinois has zero-tolerance policy for drivers under the age of 21 with alcohol in their bloodstream.
Two families have been destroyed by poor decisions made by these teens. My sincere condolences to these families.
The Law Offices of Jeffrey J. Kroll has had an outstanding record of success bringing lawsuits against drunk drivers on behalf of accident victims. In 2008, we recovered $2.9 million for the family of a 43-year-old LaGrange Park man who was killed in a motor vehicle collision when a drunk driver crossed over the center line on Route 83 near Bluff Road in DuPage County. He was survived by a wife and two adult children. If you or a loved one has been involved in an accident with a drunk driver, please contact us.
