Against their normally better judgment and the advice of others, some people still choose to drive while under the influence of alcohol. Driving while drunk may not only cause injuries to the person driving, but they could be a danger to everyone around them in the car or on the road. The risk of personal injury increases dramatically when you drink alcohol while driving. Being affected by a drunk driving accidents is something an injury attorney will understand all too well.
Seeking legal advice may be one of your top priorities when you’re involved in an accident. An experienced attorney may be able to help you recover the cost of medical bills and other necessities, especially if you’re not the guilty party.
If you’re ever involved in an accident caused by drunk driving, you’ll know that there may be many different injuries that could occur. For those who are lucky enough never to have been involved in such an accident, here are the common injuries one may see in drunk driving accidents:
- Head Injuries
Because better judgment is out the window, wearing a seatbelt may not be one of the precautions you’ll think about taking. This may cause serious injury to the driver and passengers of the vehicle driven by the drunk driver.
Other parties involved in the accident, whether pedestrians or drivers of other vehicles are also at risk of suffering head injuries. These injuries are considered more traumatic as they may cause something like memory loss or more serious conditions like comas or other brain injuries.
- Injuries To The Neck And Spine
These injuries can also be considered severe as the neck and spine are so fragile and protect a very important part of our bodies—the nerves running from the brain to our bodies.
Injuries to the neck and spine may cause temporary or permanent paralysis or instantaneous death if severe. Because the spinal column is the highway for our nerves to and from the brain, some functions may be severely affected if this nerve highway is damaged. Breathing, heartbeat, touch, and many other functions may be permanently altered by spinal injuries.
- External Body Injuries
When in an accident, there’ll most likely be an injury to the body in some shape or form. Cuts, scrapes, or bruises to more severe injuries like burns, are all common during drunk driving accidents.
Skin and soft tissue injuries may require extensive medical care and could leave permanent scars when healed. You may then have to carry this scar with you as a reminder for the rest of your life.
- Internal Bodily Injuries
Organ damage and broken bones are some of the injuries regularly seen when accidents occur. More serious injuries like internal bleeding, punctured lungs or nerve damage could also be observed.
These types of injuries could all be very serious or even life-threatening and should be treated at a hospital as soon as possible. Lengthy hospital stays may be very expensive, but in this case, they’re very necessary.
- Injuries To The Extremities
It’s very common to see injuries to the hands, arms, legs, and feet during drunk driving accidents. Broken bones, tissue damage, and nerve damage are all examples of how the extremities may be affected.
Although broken bones can heal, some breaks are more serious than others due to their close proximity to nerves and major blood vessels. When a broken bone is moved around, it may damage the surrounding tissue, nerves, and blood vessels by slicing through them.
Compound fractures may require more extensive surgery as the bone will have multiple areas of damage. There may even be cases where the injury is too severe and repairs cannot be made.
Loss of limbs is a reality when the injuries are too serious and projections of future use aren’t too positive. This may mean that you’ll have to live without the function you used to complete daily tasks and activities.
In Conclusion
Make the wise choice not to drink and drive to save yourself and others from injury or loss. Abstain from drinking alcohol when you plan on hitting the road, and this may save a life.
Serious injury and loss are very common in drunk driving accidents, and if there’s something you can do to prevent this, you should.
When you find yourself involved in an accident where drunk-driving was the cause, you should consider contacting an injury attorney to assist you with claims. Injuries may be very expensive to treat, especially when you didn’t cause the accident.