For the last several decades, New Jersey residents have seen and heard many public awareness campaigns highlighting the dangers of drunk driving and encouraging people to make alternative decisions that are wise and safe. Unfortunately, there remains a core of people unwilling to put the safety of others and even of themselves ahead of their immediate wishes. As a result, too many innocent people continue to die in accidents caused by drunk drivers.
Records from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration show that New Jersey overall has a lower rate of vehicular fatalities attributed to alcohol than the national average. Still, 125 lives were lost statewide at the hands of drunk drivers in 2017 alone. That number represents 16% of all automotive deaths in New Jersey that year. In Monmouth County, however, the story is a bit different. Drunk driving was responsible for almost 21% of all vehicular fatalities in the county, claiming nine out of 43 lives lost.
Between 2013 and 2017, Monmouth County recorded 214 deaths in automobile accidents. Of those, 54 occurred in crashes in which alcohol was noted as a contributing factor. That means that one in every four vehicular deaths in the county over those five years was due to a drunk driver. Those are deaths that should be preventable if people would only make better decisions.
If you would like to learn more about how to seek help after you or someone you love has been involved in a vehicle accident caused by a negligent drunk driver, please feel free to visit the drunk driving crash compensation page of our New Jersey personal injury website.