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Colorado Springs Drunk Driver Accident Lawyer

At Rector Stuzynski Law Firm, We Get You More!

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$4 Million +

Motor Vehicle Accident

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Rear-End Car Accident

$1 Million

Motorcycle Accident

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Millions Of Dollars Recovered Every Year For Our Satisfied Clients

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Accident With A Drunk Driver? We Can Help

Drunk drivers are a leading cause of motor vehicle accidents in Colorado and more specifically, Colorado Springs. Even with the rise in easily accessible rideshare services, people continue to drink and drive and it is extremely unsafe for the responsible citizens that are on the roads while these drunk drivers are out. If you’ve been in an accident with a drunk driver and sustained an injury, our Colorado Springs drunk driver accident attorneys can help you recover compensation for your monetary losses, injuries and discomfort you endured during recovery.

person drinking alcohol while driving and causing an accident

Not only will drunk drivers be held responsible for their actions in a criminal manner by the local judicial system, if the drunk driver injured someone, then it is only fair to hold that negligent person accountable for their actions via a personal injury lawsuit. Don’t let that drunk driver off easy, contact our law firm today for help with filing an accident claim against the negligent driver and potentially any social hosts.

Colorado DUI Laws

In Colorado, our local laws are very strict against driving under the influence of even small amounts of alcohol or drugs, so make sure you are staying sober if you have to drive somewhere. Let’s take a look at some of the laws we need to abide by:

  • Anyone under 21 with a BAC of .02 to .05 can be charged with underage drinking and driving(UDD)
  • Anyone driving a normal vehicle with a BAC of .05 to .08 can be charged with driving while ability impaired(DWAI)
  • Anyone driving with a BAC of .08 or above can be charged with driving under the influence(DUI)
  • Anyone driving with more than 5 nanograms of active THC in their blood can be charged with driving under the influence of drugs, however authorities have the right to prosecute a driver with any amount of an intoxicating drug in their system, regardless of the size of dose
  • Anyone who drives while ability impaired by alcohol or drugs and this conduct is the proximate cause of an accident that leads to serious bodily injury or death to another person will be charged with vehicular assault or vehicular homicide.

 

As you can see, Colorado does not take driving under the influence lightly. They have criminal penalties for drivers with even a small amount of alcohol or drugs and anyone who causes an accident while impaired will likely get slapped with a civil lawsuit as well. In some rare cases, the judge may even assign punitive damages if it was a particularly reckless drunk driving accident.

Holding The Drunk Driver Accountable

When a person acts negligently, or in a manner that puts others at risk and clearly breaks the law which in turn causes an injury to another person, that negligent person is now liable for the injuries they caused. This is where a personal injury lawsuit is brought against the negligent person(or their insurance company) to recover monetary damages for any losses they incurred due to the accident that caused the injury. In this case, a drunk driver was the negligent party and since they clearly broke the law by driving drunk and causing an accident, you can sue them for damages(if you were injured). When you sue the impaired driver, you are entitled to claim monetary compensation for various different types of losses, so make sure to speak with an exceptional drunk driving accident lawyer right away if you have been injured.

Compensation Is Available For Injured Parties

If you were hit by an intoxicated driver and sustained injuries from the accident, you may be entitled to compensation. When pursuing compensation in an injury lawsuit, you are able to claim two types of costs called economic damages and non-economic damages. Economic damages are all of the losses you sustained that have an exact dollar amount, such as cost to repair your car, medical bills, lost wages, etc.

The second type of compensation is called non-economic damages and provides monetary compensation for all of the discomfort, pain and emotional distress you dealt with during the accident and during your entire recovery process, if you are able to fully recover. The severity of your injuries and how much they affect your ability to live a normal, happy life will play a major role in how much you receive in your settlement.

Do You Have A Valid Injury Claim?

Determining if you have a valid claim is the first step before starting the process of putting together your lawsuit. The way to determine if your claim is valid is as follows: prove that there was a duty of care, someone breached that duty of care, their breach caused an accident, you sustained damages from that accident. That is the four step process, so let’s dive a little deeper into the details.

First you need to be able to show that there was a duty of care, which basically means, there was a law that was in place to keep people safe. Breach of duty means that someone broke that law that was meant to keep people safe. Then if that person breaking that law was a direct cause of the accident that happened, it proves causation. If the accident cost you money in damages or you sustained injuries from it, then you have the damages part of the equation.

All four parts, duty of care, breach of duty, causation and damages need to be present and provable for you to have a valid injury claim that you can file a lawsuit and pursue financial compensation on.

Common Causes Of DUI Crashes

Impaired drivers cause way too many accidents, even though there are plenty of rideshare options for them to use. Because of that, it is important to keep an eye out for drunk drivers to keep yourself safe, especially if you are driving late at night when drinking and driving is most common. These are some of the most common types of crashes we see being caused by drunk drivers so you can try to stay out of these types of situations.

Running Red Lights – Impaired drivers running red lights is all too common. If you are out late at night(or even during the day) make sure to check the traffic coming both directions before pulling out into the intersection. It could save your life.

Speeding – We all find ourselves speeding sometimes, but speeding while impaired, with delayed reaction times is excessively dangerous and is one of the leading causes of accidents when intoxicated or sober.

Reckless Driving – When people get a little liquid courage in them, they tend to drive fast and think they can handle their car better than they actually can. This leads to reckless driving accidents in many situations, so keep an eye out for people driving erratically.

Rear End Accidents – Drunk drivers don’t pay attention as much as sober drivers, so rear end accidents are also very common to see. Whether they are changing songs or trying to turn the heat, distractions are everywhere and cause rear end accidents constantly.

T-Bone Collisions – T-bone accidents can be devastating and sometimes even cause fatal car accidents. These mostly happen as a result of a drunk driver running a red light or not stopping at a stop sign and hitting someone from the side at high speeds.

Rollover Accidents – Rollover accidents unfortunately are an effect of reckless driving or speeding. Most times people are trying to avoid something and end up rolling their vehicle making a quick turn to avoid another car, person or object.

Left Turn Into Oncoming Traffic – Turning left into oncoming traffic is also very common when people are impaired as they don’t think the oncoming traffic is going as fast as they are and end up getting hit trying to cross at a slow speed.

How Our Attorneys Can Help

At Rector Stuzynski Law Firm, we have been helping car accident victims get the compensation they deserve for multiple decades. We take pride in helping people get their lives back to normal while we hold the negligent parties responsible for their actions. Over the years, our personal injury attorneys have developed an extremely targeted process to get the best possible results from each and every injury claim we handle. Our clients love us, because our process works and we get results, without the hassle. If you want to work with a law firm that actually cares about your recovery and gives you personalized attention and updates every step of the way, then give us a call for a free consultation today and see why people love us.

Areas We Serve

We serve clients injured in car & auto accidents anywhere throughout the state of Colorado, but we focus on residents of these areas: Colorado Springs, Manitou Springs, Fountain, Briargate, Monument, Black Forest, Pueblo, Canon City, Larkspur, Security-Widefield, Peyton, Falcon, Calhan, Castle Rock, Teller County, El Paso County, Elbert County, Park County, Douglas County and beyond.

We serve clients injured in the following zip codes: 80907, 80909, 80918, 80917, 80931, 80932, 80933, 80934, 80935, 80936, 80937, 80941, 80942, 80946, 80947, 80949, 80950, 80960, 80962, 80977 ,80995 ,80997 80901, 80912, 80904, 80915, 80905, 80910, 80923, 80922, 80919, 80920, 80916, 80939, 80914, 80951, 80924, 80927, 80938, 80906, 80840, 80829, 80902, 80809, 80841, 80911, 80908, 80929, 80819, 80921, 80925, 80132, 80926, 80913, 80863, 80817, 80831, 80133, 80930, 80860, 80814, 80813, 80118, 80106, 80928, 80866, 80816, 80808, 80104, 80116, 81008, 80864, 80135, 81240, 81007, 80109, 81290, 80107, 80108, 80425, 81215, 81221, 80117, 80827, 81212, 80134, 80835, 81003, 80131, 81226, 81001, 80138, 80125, 81002, 81009, 81010, 81011, 81012, 80124, 81244, 80126, 80820, 80130, 80163, 80433, 80129, 80833, 80112, 80832, 81025, 81005, 81223, 81006, 80470, 80127, 80122 and beyond.