A drugged driver crashed into a minivan on the Long Island Expressway before crossing the median and striking several other vehicles in a car accident that ended up killing one woman and injuring eight others, one critically. According to an NBC news report, some of the injured were rushed to an area hospital with injuries ranging from non-life-threatening to critical. The woman who was fatally injured was pronounced dead at the hospital. The crash occurred near Exit 68 in Shirley. The woman who died was a passenger in one of two minivans that was hit, police said.
Video from the scene showed a heavily damaged red minivan, a pickup truck with front-end damage and a wrecked motorcycle. The driver of the pickup truck, a 37-year-old Mastic man, was taken to an area hospital and charged with driving while impaired by drugs, unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle and criminal possession of a controlled substance. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family of the deceased victim and all the injured victims of this crash.
Trained Drug Recognition Experts
This accident comes just a few days after the Governor’s Traffic Safety Committee and the Department of Motor Vehicles announced the addition of 16 law enforcement officers from across New York State. The officers recently completed extensive training and have been certified as Drug Recognition Experts (DREs). New York State reportedly has 255 certified DREs across the state. These are experts who are utilized when a driver appears to be impaired, and alcohol has been ruled out as the cause of the impairment.
Their training allowed the DREs to observe and document indicators of impairment within different drug categories including illicit and prescription drugs. According to the Institute for Traffic Safety Management and Research, the number of fatal crashes involving a drug-impaired driver increased by 31 percent between 2013 and 2016. The number of personal injury car accidents involving a drugged driver also increased by 31 percent between 2013 and 2016. According to the 2016 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), 20.7 million people aged 16 or older drove under the influence of alcohol in the past year and 11.8 million people drove under the influence of illicit drugs.
How Drugs Affect Driving
Drugs, whether they are recreational drugs, prescription or over-the counter drugs, can impair necessary driving skills including vision, reaction time, judgment, hearing and simultaneous task processing and accomplishment, etc. Driving requires cognitive skills such as information processing and psychomotor skills, which may also be impaired by the use of drugs. When a driver mixes drugs with alcohol, the results can be devastating. Driving under the influence (DUI) collisions tend to result in major injuries such as brain injuries, spinal cord damage, broken bones, internal organ damage, etc. DUI crashes also cause fatal injuries. Injured victims of car accidents can seek compensation from the at-fault motorist for damages including, but not limited to, medical expenses, lost income and benefits, hospitalization, rehabilitation, permanent injury, disability, loss of livelihood, past and future pain and suffering, etc. Families of deceased victims can file a wrongful death claim seeking compensation for damages as well.
If you or a loved one has been injured in a car accident, or if you have lost a loved one in a car crash caused by a distracted or negligent driver, the experienced New York personal injury attorneys at the Law Offices of Kenneth A. Wilhelm can help you better understand your legal rights and options, and also fight hard to recover just compensation for you.
For over 46 years, our skilled accident attorneys have established a proven track record of helping injured victims get fair compensation for their losses. Our law firm recently recovered $5,600,000 for a bicyclist who was hit by a van, and $2,550,000 for another victim of a truck accident, and $3,000,000 for a pedestrian who was hit by a car, and the full $1,000,000 insurance policy for a pedestrian who was hit by a truck, and $4,625,000 for a driver who was in a car and was hit by a van, and $2,500,000 for a man who fell through an improperly secured hole.
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Sources: https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/Multi-Car-Crash-Shuts-Down-Long-Island-Expressway-Both-Directions-478461983.html
https://www.longisland.com/news/03-22-18/gtsc-dmv-and-statewide-law-enforcement-announce-latest-class-of-drug-recognition-experts.html