Drunk driving road traffic accidents happen when a person has consumed more alcohol than the prescribed legal limit and has been involved in a collision with another car, or road user, including motorcycles, cycles, or even those on horseback. 

 

The drink-driving limit for drivers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland is 80 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood, 35 micrograms per 100 millilitres of breath or 107 milligrams per 100 millilitres of urine. 

 

Drinking alcohol can impair a person’s mental and physical ability to operate a vehicle, so they may lose control and collide with another road user, such as a driver, cyclist or pedestrian. 

 

Even though drink driving is against the law, it does not mean that it doesn’t happen, so if you have been injured by a drink driver, our Personal Injury Solicitors in Preston can help you to make a claim. 

Drink driving is when a person has consumed too much alcohol to be able to safely drive, but does so anyway. In the UK (excluding Scotland), the maximum level of alcohol a person can legally have is determined not by the number of drinks they have, but by the level of alcohol in their body. 

 

The law states that the maximum alcohol micrograms per 100 millilitres of breath a person can have is 35. So, if you are stopped by the police, they breathalyse you and your reading is over this amount, you can be arrested for driving over the prescribed limit of alcohol. 

At MG Legal, our team are not experts on the intricacies of how drinking affects a person’s brain, however, some general effects it can have, as explained in an article by the telegraph.co.uk are:- 

 

Operating a vehicle safely and correctly requires a person’s full concentration and physical and mental capabilities. It’s clear to most people that alcohol can seriously affect your system, impairing your ability to operate a vehicle safely and endangering other’s lives. 

 

Our Personal Injury Solicitors in Preston would explain that, based on their own experiences of dealing with road traffic accident claims where the other driver was drunk driving, quite often our clients explain the accident as being caused by the drunk driver swerving into their side of the road or mounting the path where they were walking. In any instances where a drunk driver hits another road user, people can be left injured and in need of claiming Personal Injury Compensation. Our team are here to help. 

There are many things that you can do if you are involved in a car accident with a drunk driver, which can help to make your claim stronger. The main thing is to collect as much evidence as possible. Obviously, the amount you will be able to collect may depend on your injuries; never make your injuries worse when collecting the evidence. You could always ask somebody to collect any evidence on your behalf if you are unable to. 

 

You can collect contact information for the involved parties, including the driver (even if they are the drunk driver and the police take their details, it’s a good idea to get these yourself), the passengers of the car, and any witnesses who were present when the accident occurred or afterwards (i.e. pedestrians or other road users). You should take a note of the details of the vehicle involved in the accident, including colour, make, model, the vehicle registration number and any details of the company, if the vehicle was commercial. If you have a camera handy, take pictures of the scene (once you are no longer inside your vehicle), making sure that you get photos of any tyre marks, damage to the vehicles and where you have been injured. Whatever you do, you must also keep receipts for any recovery costs, mechanic’s invoices or travel costs so that these can be claimed back from the at fault party, too. 

 

The next thing to do is to contact our expert team of Personal Injury Solicitors to discuss your compensation claim. 

After you’ve been injured and sought medical help, you should contact our Personal Injury Solicitors in Preston (Garstang or Longridge) or Lancaster to discuss your injury compensation claim. There would be no charge for the initial discussions, or for our team dealing with your injury compensation claim on your behalf, as all work is carried out on a No Win No Fee basis (a Conditional Fee Agreement). You can read more about these agreements in our Personal Injury Solicitor’s blog, here. 

At MG Legal, our expert team of Personal Injury Solicitors have over 20 years’ experience dealing with Road Traffic Accident Compensation Claims, and we accept all new claims on a No Win, No Fee Conditional Fee Agreement, meaning that, if your claim is unsuccessful, you won’t have to pay a penny. 

 

Our team has successfully settled over 99% of our client’s compensation claims, but don’t just take our word for it - read our client’s reviews online, here.