Beer, Driving and Texting - A Deadly Combination
This past Saturday while exiting the parking lot of a shopping center in Northfield, New Jersey, I observed a young man load a few cases of beer into his truck, put a child in the passenger seat and then he pulled out a beer which he proceeded to drink, got in his car and got on his cell phone and pulled out of the parking lot like a bat out of hell, almost striking another vehicle.
Yes, it’s summertime and everybody is in a party mood, but as I have written before, drinking and driving is a deadly combination, and texting and driving is a deadly combination, yet when all three are involved, nothing but danger lurks. Many cars even have a refrigerator in the console to refresh the driver after a stressful day. I have been criticized by many as being an extreme downer due to the fact that I refuse to drink and drive, and in fact, if I have a drink during dinner or before dinner at a restaurant, I always have a designated driver. It is simply because I have first hand seen tragic consequences, wrongful deaths and catastrophic injuries that stem from any of the above, or a combination of any of the above elements, resulting in a car accident. In fact, I lost my dear law partner, a few years back, as a result of a deadly car accident involving alcohol consumption.
I am always amazed at how many people come into my law office who have been under the influence of alcohol when driving, and when I initially question them they tell me maybe they have had one or maybe two beers, but in fact when the questioning intensifies, it turns out they have really had four, five or six beers and yet are behind the wheel of a car. This is one of my pet peeves, so I urge all of my readers when behind the wheel of a car, take your responsibility seriously, because drinking and driving is no different that riding a bomb and in my mind, the equivalent of a weapon of major destruction.
Jeffrey Reiff is an experienced Philadelphia car accident attorney who has been representing catastrophically and seriously injured victims since 1979.
