Each time Texas police pulls over a suspected drunk driver, they wonder if DUI/DWI education is working. Every day, victims of drunk drivers wonder the same. The fatality rate on Texas highways for 2012 indicates that, on average, there are 1.41 deaths per 100,000,000 miles traveled; this rate represents an increase of 9.3 percent over 2011. No day passed in 2012 without a death on Texas roadways. One person is killed every two hours and 35 minutes; one injured every two minutes and 17 seconds; one involved in a reportable car crash every 75 seconds.
In 2012, 1,099 people met their deaths in accidents in which one or more drivers was under the influence of alcohol. That number represents 32.3 percent of the total number killed on Texas roads. Most commonly, these accidents took place between 2:00 a.m. and 3:00 a.m. Sunday was the most common day of the week for an accident. With these figures, it does not seem that alcohol education is having much impact in the Lone Star State.
One recent morning, a Texas police office and member of a DWI Task Force was patrolling U.S. 54 around 2:00 a.m. He spotted a driver travelling at 115 mph in a 60 mph speed zone. Once pulled over, the man was arrested for DWI/DUI. He already had a prior conviction for the same crime. His accident was averted before it found a place to happen, but will it be prevented again the next time?
About The Author
Kenneth "Tray" Gober III, J.D., is the Managing Partner of Lee, Gober & Reyna, PLLC in Austin, Texas. A 2005 magna cum laude graduate of Texas A&M University and an honors graduate of Baylor Law School, Tray is admitted to the State Bars of Texas (Bar No. 300408), Colorado, and Pennsylvania, and to the Bar of the United States Supreme Court. He represents personal injury clients across Texas in car accidents, truck accidents, autonomous vehicle claims, wrongful death, drunk driving collisions, premises liability, and product liability matters. He is one of Texas's most frequently quoted legal voices on the law surrounding autonomous vehicles and AI-driven transportation. Tray also serves as an adjunct professor of Paralegal Studies at the University of Texas School of Law.