Solano Receives DUI Prosecution Grant
I’m Ed Smith, a Vacaville wrongful death lawyer. The Solano County District Attorney’s Office announced on Thursday, November 16, 2017, that it has been given a grant of over $309,000 in order to help prosecute and combat individuals who get behind the wheel while intoxicated by alcohol or drugs.
The Grant
The yearly grant is the sixth to be awarded in as many years and will fund a vertical prosecution team that will handle cases of DUI at each step in the criminal process and will be prosecuting both drug and alcohol-related cases of DUI. In major injury and fatal DUI auto accidents, members of the team will respond to crash scenes and take an active part in investigating all incidents, seeing cases through from arrest to conviction and all the way to sentencing.
District Attorney Krishna Abrams stated in a press release that the prosecution of DUI cases is still a top priority and that such cases oftentimes involve repeat offenders. Abrams also stated that many DUI collisions result in serious traumatic injuries and even death.
Previous Work
During last year’s DUI procecution grant spending, the vertical prosecution team hired by Solano County filed a total of 1,643 misdemeanor and felony cases related to driving while intoxicated by drugs and/or alcohol. The team played a major role in ensuring that those who caused others harm because of dangerous driving behavior received just sentences.
DUI and Fatality
The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that an average of around 10,000 people die in U.S. DUI accidents every year. This means that almost one-third of all U.S. accident fatalities are caused by drivers who are under the influence.
Because alcohol affects the central nervous system, drunk drivers are more likely to be involved in serious or fatal accidents for a number of reasons. Drivers with alcohol in their system are less capable of responding to and also less likely to notice changing roadway conditions. To compound this problem, alcohol slows reaction times, meaning that even if drivers notice a problem in the road and know how to respond, they simply may not be able to.
DUI and Liability
If a driver is determined to be under the influence of alcohol at the time of an accident, they can be held liable to pay for the damages and traumatic injuries that they cause. However, although drunk drivers are automatically liable in these cases, they may not be the only parties who can be held responsible.
Parties that supplied the drunk driver with either access to a vehicle or alcohol while knowing that the driver would be driving drunk can sometimes also be held liable to pay for damages. To learn more about it, you can visit my website.
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Vacaville Wrongful Death Lawyer
I’m Ed Smith, a Vacaville wrongful death lawyer. Crashes often present the risk of serious injury and, in the worst cases, death. If you have been injured or a loved one has been killed or harmed in a collision, call my local number, (707) 564-1900, for friendly, free advice. You can also call (800) 404-5400 or visit AutoAccident.com.
I have been practicing wrongful death and personal injury law in California for 35 years.
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image: “CHP HOV traffic stop” by Coolcaesar through CC A-SA3.0U
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