A 43-year-old North Carolina man is facing a manslaughter charge after a passenger in his vehicle was killed in a crash. According to police, the man was driving on Ranklin Hill Road with a female passenger when he lost control of the vehicle and crashed into a tree on August 5. Both he and his 34-year-old passenger were airlifted to Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, where the passenger died.
The driver, who has been convicted of driving while impaired numerous times in the past and was driving on a suspended license, was later arrested. He now faces charges for manslaughter in the death of his female passenger.
The sad truth is that drunk driving is an activity that offenders are likely to engage in more than once. According to Mothers Against Drunk Driving, approximately a third of all motorists convicted of drunk driving are repeat offenders. On average, a person will drive while intoxicated 80 times before their first arrest. Each day, people drive drunk nearly 300,000 times, but only about 4,000 of them are arrested.
These drunk drivers pose significant risks both to themselves as well as their passengers and other motorists with whom they share the highway. Every year, thousands of people die as a result of drunk driving. In 2012, 10,322 people were killed in collisions involving drunk drivers in the United States.
Even someone who has only had a couple of drinks is ill-equipped to drive safely, as their motor skills and reaction time are significantly impaired after they have been drinking. A person with a BAC level of .10 or above is much more likely to be in a fatal car accident than someone who is sober.
Drunk drivers are a serious threat to anyone on the road. If you or someone you love has been injured or killed by a drunk driver, consult an experienced North Carolina car accident attorney at the Lanier Law Group.