Binge Drinking - a Bigger Accident Risk Than We Think
A study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that there is a need for greater enforcement of laws that prevent bars and other drinking establishments from serving customers who are too intoxicated to drive. Binge drinking is a problem, and a factor in most of the 11,000 fatalities that occur every year in drunk driving accidents.
The CDC study focused on 14,000 binge drinkers - people who admitted that at least once a month to drinking more than 5 alcoholic beverages on a single occasion. 12 percent of the respondents in the survey said that they had driven a car within two hours of their last binge. That is one in 8 binge drinkers who saw no problem getting behind the wheel while intoxicated. The study also showed that half of the drove off after drinking at a bar or club had consumed 7 or more alcoholic drinks, while 25 percent of those had at least 10 drinks.
CDC researchers are calling for stronger enforcement of laws that prevent establishments from serving drunk customers. Georgia’s dram shop liability laws hold restaurants, bars and nightclubs liable for providing alcohol to a patron who later causes injury to others, who was noticeably intoxicated and the establishment knew or should have known they were about to drive. Proving those elements can be very difficult unless the drunk driver has receipts and there are eyewitnesses who corroborate that the person was drunk and about to drive.
However, as Fulton County car accident lawyers often see, such dram shop laws are some of the most under enforced laws in the country. It obviously suits the restaurant or bar to continue to serve alcohol to its customers, even when they have had too much to drink. Unfortunately, enforcement of these laws are difficult and far too little consideration given by those establishments serving alcohol as to what will likely happen once the drunk driver gets behind the wheel.
