If you were hit by a drunk driver, your entire life may change. You may be able to hold the driver responsible for your injuries if you were severely hurt. If you lost a loved one to a car accident caused by a drunk driver, you may be entitled to substantial compensation for your losses. You should talk to an attorney about your case to see what you might be entitled to and how to handle your case. However, there are some things you may be able to do first. Talk to an attorney today about your drunk driving accident injuries. For a free consultation with a Dallas drunk driving victim attorney, call The Queenan Law Firm, P.C. today at (817) 476-1797.
What to Do After Being Hit by a Drunk Driver
The first thing you should do after any car accident is check if everyone is okay. If you were in another car when you were hit by a drunk driver, you should check on any other occupants of your car. Try to assess everyone’s condition if you can. Next, get to a safe place. If you can, you may want to move your car to the side of the road. If the area is dark, you may want to leave your headlights on and use your 4-way flashers/hazards, especially if you are on the side of the road. The next thing you should do after a car accident is call the police. Don’t give the other driver the choice of whether to call the police or not. If you were in a car accident involving injuries, you need to call the police anyway. Texas, like most states, requires you to report a car accident involving physical injuries.
Notifying the police of your car accident has a few bonuses that will help you prove your injuries and get compensation later. First, if the driver who caused the accident was indeed drunk, police may be able to arrest the driver and measure their blood alcohol concentration (BAC). With this information available, your legal case may be stronger. Second, police may be able to come to court as a witness for your accident. Even if they didn’t see the accident, their testimony can help prove the other driver was intoxicated, and their photos and recollection of the positioning of cars can help prove the other driver caused the accident. Lastly, police can file a report for the accident. An accident report is excellent evidence in court as to how the car was damaged, what injuries people suffered, and who was at fault.
If the other driver was drunk, they may not want to involve police in the case. This is dangerous for many reasons. First, you may put yourself at risk for the consequences of not reporting the accident. Second, if police do not come to arrest the other driver, they may cause another accident before they get home. Third, you may lose the strong evidence from police, their BAC testing, and their accident report. If you were injured by a drunk driver, don’t agree not to involve the police.
Proving Drunk Driving Accident Injuries
When you take any personal injury case to court, you need to prove a few elements before you can get your injuries compensated. You must prove that the other driver was negligent in causing the accident. This requires showing that:
- The driver owed you a duty to drive reasonably;
- The driver breached that duty by driving unreasonably;
- The breach caused your injuries; and
- You suffered injuries a court can compensate you for.
To prove this in a drunk driving case, you may be in luck. Since drunk driving is illegal in every state, including Texas, drunk driving is an automatic breach of a driver’s duty. Since the duty is to drive reasonably, driving drunk is automatically an unreasonable, unsafe choice. If you were injured because of another driver’s drunk driving, you should be able to get compensation for your injuries.
The police testing and evidence may be available in your civil lawsuit. While the police may charge and prosecute the other driver for drunk driving, you can still sue them separately for your injuries or the loss of a loved one. Since the police will usually take breath or blood samples to test the drunk driver’s BAC, that evidence may be available in your civil case. This, plus the evidence of the other driver’s conviction (if available) may prove most of your car accident case.
Dallas, Texas DUI/DWI Victim’s Attorney
A Dallas personal injury lawyer at The Queenan Law Firm represent injured drunk driving victims in Dallas. Talking to an Arlington, TX personal injury attorney about your case can help you explore your choices for seeking compensation, including whether to go through insurance or the court system. While insurance may be able to cover some injures, you may miss areas of compensation if you do not take your case to court. To schedule a free consultation for your case, talk to our Dallas car accident attorneys today at (817) 476-1797.