Drunk Driving Accidents: Why Drunk Drivers Often Survive Fatal Crashes

 Posted on December 00, 0000 in Drunk Driving Accidents

Earlier this year, a popular Chicago DJ was driving drunk and speeding at more than 90 MPH when his car slid off Lake Shore Drive into a frozen lagoon. A woman, a 37-year-old mother, was killed in the accident, and while the DJ suffered a fractured vertebrae and hand injuries, he survived the wreck. Police who arrived on the scene said that the man smelled like alcohol, and when they tested the man for a blood alcohol content, it registered at .17, more than twice the legal limit.  He was ordered to be held in lieu of $1 million bond.

The grisly Humboldt Park crash illustrates a sad and somewhat staggering statistic about drunk driving—the drivers responsible for the crash are often more likely to survive than their passengers. This idea is often expressed by loved ones of those lost in drunk driving accidents, but there are statistics to back up the hunch. A recent study put out by California researchers found among drunk driving accidents, when not taking into consideration the severity of the injury, 1 percent of drunk drivers were killed in an accident, while 7 percent of sober patients died.

The study also found that there may be a scientific reason for this seemingly unfair phenomenon: alcohol physically loosens a person up, and the alcohol then acts as a buffer that inhibits certain chemicals that are released when a person suffers a major injury. These chemicals are related to stress. One researcher for the study who is a trauma surgeon at a California hospital said that she and other team members are currently looking into whether or not alcohol can subsequently be used in some way to increase survival. This is particularly the case with patients who have suffered a traumatic brain injury, as pre-injury ethanol appears to reduce the risk of mortality in that instance as well.

If you or someone you know has been the victim of a drunk driving crash, you may be eligible for compensation. Do not go through it alone. Contact an experienced Lake County accident attorney today.