North Carolina Uber driver killed by drunk in head-on crash

On Behalf of O’Malley Tunstall PLLC | Aug 3, 2018 | Firm News

Regular readers of our Raleigh personal injury law blog know that we have repeatedly written about the dangers of distracted driving and fatigued driving. Perhaps no form of behind-the-wheel recklessness and carelessness is greater than drunk driving, however.

Every year, thousands of North Carolina motor vehicle crashes are caused by drunk drivers. The wrecks result in painful injuries and needless deaths. Unfortunately, the death toll rose again this past weekend when an Uber driver was killed by a drunk driver in a head-on crash.

The 31-year-old Uber driver was killed when a 39-year-old man crossed the double yellow lines in a 2010 Ford Escape and slammed directly into his 2006 Subaru. The Ford driver was speeding at the time, law enforcement officials said.

According to a news report, his front-seat passenger was hospitalized after the crash, but is expected to recover.

A passenger in the Ford was also hospitalized; also with non-life-threatening injuries.

The federal government’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that nearly 10,500 people died in crashes involving alcohol impairment in 2016. Drunk drivers accounted for 28 percent of all traffic-related fatalities that year.

Perhaps the most heart-wrenching of all statistics about alcohol-impaired drivers is that they were responsible for 214 deaths among children ages 0 to 14 years in 2016, the CDC says.

Those who lose a family member to a drunk driver can fight for a measure of justice by holding the perpetrator financially accountable with wrongful death litigation. You can contact O’Malley Tunstall PLLC to schedule a consultation with an attorney experienced in wrongful death and personal injury litigation.