Despite decades of warnings, increased enforcement and toughened penalties, drunk driving remains a problem on the roads of Georgia.
Too often, residents of Albany hear about someone suffering serious and debilitating injuries or dying in a drunk driving crash. Many times, the person who suffers the most is an innocent motorist or pedestrian who had nothing to do with a drunk driver’s poor choices.
Victims and their families will no doubt have medical bills and other expenses. If the victim worked, he or she may also have lost the ability to earn an income, at least while she recovered from the collision’s aftermath.
After an accident, there is also a great deal of emotional loss and other loss that is very real but hard to put an exact dollar value on.
As a start, the victim or, in some cases the victim’s family can sue the drunk driver for compensation. Depending on the circumstances, Georgia’s law may even allow the victim to seek additional punitive damages from the driver over and beyond the victim’s actual losses.
Other parties may be legally responsible for a drunk driving accident
However, it is always possible that a drunk driver has inadequate insurance and no other means to pay compensation even if a court orders it.
In these circumstances, a victim may be able to turn to his own insurance carrier and seek uninsured motorist or underinsured motorist coverage.
Other people or businesses may also be responsible for a victim’s injuries after a drunk driving collision. For example, someone who provides alcohol to an underage or noticeably drunk person may be responsible if that person later drives drunk and hurts or kills someone.
Victims of drunk driving accidents may have a number of legal options available to them for recovering the compensation they both need and deserve.