Dec 31, 2012 | Car Accidents, DUI & DWI, Trucking/Tractor-Trailer Accidents, Uncategorized
According to North Carolina Highway Patrol, a 48-year-old North Carolina man is dead after being struck by a car while he was pushing his stalled SUV on McArthur Road.
The man was pushing his 1995 Ford SUV early Wednesday morning wen he was struck from behind by a man driving a 2013 Hyundai.
The 31-year-old driver of the Hyundai was charged with driving under the influence.
There was also a woman witness who had been steering the SUV. However, she left the scene after the accident.
Authorities are continuing their investigation into the incident.
Studies reveal that of the 10,839 people who were killed in alcohol-impaired-driving crashes in 2009 were drivers with a blood alcohol level of .08 or higher. The remaining fatalities that year consisted of 2,891 motor-vehicle occupants and 667 non-occupants. If you plan on consuming alcohol, be sure to make plans for your traveling or arrange for a designated driver. Unfortunately, drunk driving continues to injure people and take lives, despite widespread action to counteract and prevent its occurrence. If you have been involved in a drunk driving incident, call the Attorneys of Reeves, Aiken, and Hightower at 704-499-9000 or 877-374-5999 toll-free.
Dec 28, 2012 | Car Accidents, Child Accidents, DUI & DWI, Personal Injury, Uncategorized
A tragic two-car crash has left a grandmother and her daughter dead late Wednesday night.
The crash happened around 9:30 p.m. at Independence Boulevard and Matthews Township Parkway near the Matthews Festival Shopping Center.
According to authorities, a Honda CRV and a Chevrolet Trailblazer collided when a woman driving the CRV attempted to turn left onto Independence Boulevard and was struck by the Trailblazer traveling northbound on Matthews Township Parkway.
A 62-year-old woman and her 37-year-old daughter were both killed in the crash. The younger woman’s two children were also injured in the wreck, but are expected to survive.
The 28-year-old driver of the Trailblazer is charged with DWI and reckless driving in the crash. He remains in the hospital with injuries.
In fatal crashes that occurred in 2009, the highest percentage of drivers with a blood alcohol level of .08 or higher were ages 21 to 24, followed by drivers ages 25 to 34. Drunk driving is an epidemic that affects people across the country. If you or someone you know is involved in alcohol-impairment motor-vehicle collision, please call the Attorneys of Reeves, Aiken, and Hightower at 704-499-9000 or 877-374-5999 toll-free.
Dec 28, 2012 | Car Accidents, DUI & DWI, Trucking/Tractor-Trailer Accidents, Uncategorized
Authorities believe speed to be the cause of a fatal accident in Mint Hill Friday night.
Police were dispatched to Lawyers Road and Truelight Church Road in reference to a hit and run causing property damage.
Once authorities arrived on the scene of the crash they found a 25-year-old Concord man dead after he had crashed his 2001 Chevrolet Truck.
The man had crashed into a mailbox and overturned his truck before finally coming to a rest on all four wheels.
It is still unknown whether alcohol was a factor in the crash.
As the speed you drive increases, your chances of being involved in a crash causing serious injury or death increases exponentially. Speed is the number one cause of traffic collisions and quite possibly one of the most controllable. If you or someone you know and love has been in a serious collision involving speed, it’s time to call the experienced Accident Attorneys of Reeves, Aiken, and Hightower at 704-499-9000 or 877-374-5999 toll-free.
Dec 20, 2012 | Car Accidents, DUI & DWI, Personal Injury, Uncategorized
Three Charlotte Mecklenburg Police are recovering from injuries after two accidents occurred in the same location involving drunk drivers Saturday night.
In the first accident, two officers were injured around 11:30 p.m. while investigating an accident on Independence Boulevard at Eastway Drive when a man hit a patrol car, and then crashed into a second patrol car. Both patrol cars had lights flashing.
At the time the cars were struck, the officers were standing in the road and were hit by one of the patrol cars.
Both officers were transported to Carolinas Medical Center with serious leg injuries. One of the officers was released Sunday, while the other was stable that evening.
The man who struck the officers was charged with DWI, felony serious injury by vehicle, open container, and reckless driving, among other charges.
As more officers came to investigate the scene, around 2:30 a.m. another drunk driver hit a CMPD patrol car and a second car, both of which also had lights flashing.
An officer sitting in one of the patrol cars was knocked unconscious upon impact. An officer in the second car was uninjured.
Police arrested the second offender and charged him with DWI and felony serious injury by vehicle.
The officer that was knocked unconscious was kept at CMC Sunday afternoon for observation and was in stable condition by that evening.
Recent studies in 2010 reveal that traffic accidents accounted for 73 out of every 160 police deaths in the United States that year. It’s no mystery that officers put themselves in danger every day while on duty to serve and protect our nation’s citizen’s and communities. Motorists should always be alert for emergency personnel and vehicles on, around, and near the road. If you have been involved in an accident involving an emergency vehicle or otherwise, you need an attorney on your side to protect your rights. Call the trusted Accident Attorneys of Reeves, Aiken, and Hightower at 704-499-9000 or 877-374-5999 toll-free.
Dec 19, 2012 | DUI & DWI, Felony DUI, Uncategorized
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) sand the U.S. Congress have agreed in unison that ignition interlock in vehicles be made a mandatory requirement for anyone convicted of a DWI, including first time offenders. NTSB and Congress also believe that this power should rest with the states, allowing each state to craft their own mandatory requirements.
Specifically, according to the safety bill adopted by Congress last year, states will be given federal grants in order to aid the ignition interlock, ensuring that each state can comply with the requirement if desired. Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act, Pub. L. 112-141. ( U.S.)(2011). The bill was introduced after a special investigation into vehicle crashes, resulting from intoxicated drivers travelling down the wrong way of the roadways. The NTSB ultimately concluded that installing the interlock ignition would greatly reduce the amount of accidents caused by intoxicated drivers.
There are three instances in which the state of North Carolina currently requires ignition interlock as a condition of regaining one’s driver’s license: (1) the person has an alcohol concentration of 0.15 or more; (2) the person was convicted of another offense, involving impaired driving within seven years of the offense for which the person’s license is revoked; or (3), the person was sentenced at an “Aggravated Level One,” which is the highest level of punishment one can receive for a misdemeanor DWI. Thus, our state’s system is currently not as rigid as the NTSB requirement. In order to comply with the requirement and be awarded federal money, North Carolina would have to expand the mandatory interlock ignition requirement to all persons charged with a DWI.
In order to jumpstart production of the ignition interlock, the NTSB and the Automotive Coalition for Traffic Safety and National Highway Transportation Safety Administration have united to begin working to develop this “high tech” equipment through a cooperative research program referred to as the DADSS program.
The DADSS system is opposed to the current interlock ignition, believing that it is too burdensome on the use by widespread public. DADDSS thinks the current system, which requires the driver to blow into a breathalyzer every time they start the car, is an extremely intrusive system.
Thus, DADSS has created two less intrusive alternatives for the interlock ignition. The first system would be a touch-based approach, measuring the person’s alcohol concentration by their skin. The second would be similar to the breathalyzer, however rather than “blowing,” sensors would be used to test the driver’s breath on the exhale.
Many in support of the DADSS system believe that this maybe one of the few times in which the government can utilize technology to prevent a crime, without “unduly burdening the individual freedom.” If they are correct, there could be no constitutional violations raised, and serious injury and deaths due to drunk drivers may be greatly reduced, to the benefit of all drivers alike.
If you or a loved one has been charged with driving under the influence, driving under suspension, or any other alcohol related charge, call the law offices of Reeves Aiken & Hightower for a consultation. We know that a DUI can determine the next year or so of a person’s life; therefore, it is important for you to get proper representation. Call us at 704-499-9000, or toll-free at 877-374-5999.
Dec 13, 2012 | Car Accidents, DUI & DWI, Uncategorized
The Rock Hill Police Department arrested a drunk man at a locak McDonald’s last Thursday evening.
According to the police report, the 54-year-old Rock Hill resident hit a woman’s car repeatedly while waiting in the drive thru line. The accident occured around 10:15 p.m., on East Main Street near Winthrop University.
When the police arrived on scene, the man stated that he had only had two beers that evening, yet could not walk in a stright line due to ” two knee surgeries and two back surgeries.”
However, the “stright-line test,” was not the only sobriety test the defendant failed that night. Upon arrest, the defendant kicked and screamed as the officers try to place the defendant in the patrol car.
His car was subsequently towed, he license was taken from him, and the man was taken directly to jail.
He was in fact charged with a DUI.
The officers administered a breathalyzer test on the man and found that his blood alcohol concentration (BAC) was at 0.09. In the state of South Carolina, if a person is found to have a higher BAC than 0.08, they can be charged with DUI. If you or a loved one has been charged with driving under the influence, driving under suspension, or any other alcohol related charge, call the law offices of Reeves Aiken & Hightower for a consultation. We know that a DUI can determine the next year or so of a person’s life; therefore, it is important for you to get proper representation. Call us at 803-548-4444, or toll-free at 877-374-5999.
