When a Drunk Driver Upends Your Life, Here’s How You Can Hold Them Accountable
The impact of being injured by a drunk driver is immediate and intense. In the minutes and hours that follow the initial impact, you will also feel the pain, shock, and disorientation that come with a drunk driving accident.
But Suppose your injuries are severe and debilitating. In that case, you’ll be living with the fallout for months or years, as your injuries keep you out of work and you endure a long and taxing ordeal of surgeries, rehabilitation, and mounting medical bills and other unpaid expenses. And if the negligent and irresponsible driver who caused your accident left you with a traumatic brain or spinal injury, the impact of that accident will be with you for the rest of your life.
So the question is, if you are injured by a drunk driver, what should you do?
Table of Contents:
When a Drunk Driver Upends Your Life, Here’s How You Can Hold Them Responsible
What You’ll Learn in This Post
Take Care of Yourself and Others
Gather Information at the Scene of the Accident
Contact a Car Accident Attorney As Soon As Possible
Monitor the Drunk Driver’s Criminal Case
What You’ll Learn in This Post:
- When a drunk driver’s irresponsible (and illegal) conduct causes an accident and you suffer injuries, what you do in the moments, hours, and days after your accident can make all the difference in your efforts to obtain compensation and hold the driver accountable.
- Get immediate medical attention, even if you don’t think you’re injured, gather the names and contact information for the driver and any witnesses, and contact a personal injury attorney as soon as possible to preserve your right to compensation and build the strongest case.
- Keep an eye on any criminal DUI case against the drunk driver as the evidence and a conviction in that case can impact your personal injury lawsuit.
No matter how severe your injuries or how long it takes you to fully recover – if you ever can – what you do during those first hours, days, and weeks after you are injured by a drunk driver can determine whether you will get the compensation and accountability you need and deserve for your injuries and losses. Your actions in the immediate wake of an accident also can be critical in terms of how quickly and how well you recover from your injuries.
If a drunk driver recently injured you – or you have the misfortune of being in such an accident in the future, here are some tips to help you protect your health, preserve your rights, and put yourself on the road to recovery and a return to your life as it was before.
Take Care of Yourself and Others
Nothing is more important after any motor vehicle accident than getting medical attention for yourself and anyone else involved in the crash. Call or have someone call 911 to get Colorado Springs police, fire department, ambulance, and other first responders on the scene as soon as possible.
Even if you think you are okay or your injuries are minor, you should seek immediate medical help. Many injuries, especially to the brain, neck, or back, may not be readily apparent and not make themselves known until days or weeks after the accident.
Related: Getting Compensation For Spinal Injuries From a Car Accident
Not only is getting medical care on the scene and following up with additional care and treatment essential for your health and recovery, but doing so can also be critical in any efforts you may later take to seek compensation for your injuries.
When you have been injured by a drunk driver, receiving treatment establishes a record of the nature and severity of your injuries and can be valuable evidence in a subsequent personal injury lawsuit.
Gather Information At The Scene
If you can and doing so is safe, get the other driver’s name, contacts, and insurance information. Take pictures of the scene of the accident and the vehicles involved, and get the contact information of any witnesses who may have seen the accident.
When Colorado Springs police arrive, provide them with as many details as you can recall about the incident. Police reports can serve as valuable evidence in any legal proceedings (both civil and criminal) and help determine the level of intoxication of the other driver.
Contact a Car Accident Injury Attorney As Soon As Possible
Even if lawyers and lawsuits are the furthest things from your mind after your accident, you should contact a personal injury attorney as soon as possible.
Your life has been upended because another driver chose to be reckless and irresponsible by getting behind the wheel while intoxicated. You shouldn’t bear the burden of their negligence any more than you already are.
If you are injured by a drunk driver and want to hold the driver accountable and get the compensation and resources to aid your recovery and help you put your life back together, contacting a car accident lawyer as soon as possible is essential. Colorado places strict time limits on car accident lawsuits, and if you miss the deadline, you will lose any ability to recover compensation.
The sooner your lawyer gets to work on your case, the stronger that case will be.
Monitor The Drunk Driver’s Criminal Case
If the police arriving at the scene of your accident arrest the other driver for driving under the influence (DUI) under Colorado’s law, that driver will now be facing criminal charges.
While your personal injury attorney will, in consultation with you, decide when to file your personal injury lawsuit against the drunk driver, both your injury case and the criminal case can move forward simultaneously. If the driver is convicted of DUI or pleads guilty, that can significantly impact your personal injury lawsuit.
In your Colorado car accident lawsuit, you will need to prove that you were injured by a drunk driver. That is, you have to prove the other driver was negligent and that their negligence is the reason the accident happened and your resulting injuries.
In many car accident cases, it can be a matter of great dispute as to whether the other driver was negligent, with both sides presenting conflicting evidence and testimony about what exactly occurred and who was at fault for the accident.
However, if you are injured by a drunk driver who is subsequently convicted of DUI, proving that they were negligent becomes significantly easier. In fact, the drunk driver has pretty much proven their negligence for you.
Your Colorado Springs personal injury attorney can use the evidence used by El Paso County prosecutors to obtain a DUI conviction – police reports, field sobriety tests, blood, breath, or chemical tests, witness statements, etc. – to prove negligence in your personal injury lawsuit. If El Paso County prosecutor ultimately convict the other driver of DUI, that conviction can be used as evidence in your civil case that the driver was negligent.
Even if the driver is not charged or convicted of DUI because they were below Colorado’s legal limit, or their Colorado Springs DUI defense attorney has succeeded in keeping DUI evidence out of court, your personal injury attorney can still use any evidence of alcohol in the driver’s system as part of the effort to prove that the driver was impaired at the time of the collision, and are thus responsible for your injuries.
Injured By a Drunk Driver? Hold the Driver Responsible and Receive the Closure and Compensation You Need
If you were a victim of a drunk driver’s irresponsible conduct, the experienced Colorado Springs personal injury attorneys at King & Beaty can help you recover the maximum amount of compensation available for your losses.
Please contact us today to arrange for your free initial consultation.
Updated: February 26, 2024 | Originally Posted: April 9, 2018
