In his stunning video confession earlier this month, Ohio man Matthew Cordle confessed to striking and killing a man with his car after a night of heavy drinking in June 2013. In the footage that quickly went viral, Cordle begs viewers not to drink and drive.
Cordle, who admits to blacking out behind the wheel, turned himself in to the authorities and has been charged with aggravated vehicular homicide and operating a vehicle under the influence of alcohol. He faces a maximum sentence of eight-and-a-half years in jail.
The Facts About Auto Accidents Caused by Drinking
Drinking and driving is a danger to everyone – drivers, passengers, pedestrians, innocent bystanders. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that, daily, almost 30 people in the United States die in an auto accident involving an alcohol-impaired driver. This equals one death every 48 minutes.
Here are additional stats about drinking and driving from the CDC:
- In 2010, 10,228 people were killed in alcohol-impaired driving crashes, accounting for nearly one-third (31 percent) of all traffic-related deaths in the United States.
- Of the 1,210 traffic deaths among children ages 0 to 14 years in 2010, 211 (17 percent) involved an alcohol-impaired driver.
- Of the 211 child passengers ages 14 and younger who died in alcohol-impaired driving crashes in 2010, over half (131) were riding in the vehicle with the alcohol-impaired driver.
- In 2010, over 1.4 million drivers were arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol or narcotics. That’s 1 percent of the 112 million self-reported episodes of alcohol-impaired driving among U.S. adults each year.
- Drugs other than alcohol (e.g., marijuana and cocaine) are involved in about 18 percent of motor vehicle driver deaths. These other drugs are often used in combination with alcohol.
The reality is that auto accidents caused by alcohol and other drugs are most certainly preventable, in Michigan and beyond.
If you have lost a loved one because of an alcohol-related crash in Michigan, contact Femminineo Attorneys PLLC to speak with personal injury attorney David C. Femminineo about your case.
Read more about alcohol-related auto accidents in Michigan
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