Many people are aware of driving while drunk and how an inebriated driver may cause a pedestrian accident. However, walking around under the influence, especially around areas of traffic, can also instigate an accident. In fact, many pedestrians in Connecticut and across the United States are getting into auto-pedestrian accidents because of alcohol-impaired judgment.
According to the Huffington Post, drunk pedestrians tend to be men from the ages of 21 to 59. Due to being under the influence of alcohol, these pedestrians may wander onto roads, ignoring the use of a crosswalk and stumbling in front of moving traffic. Inebriation delays a person’s reaction time, making it harder to avoid a moving vehicle. And since pedestrians are more difficult to see in the evening, a lot of intoxicated pedestrians are killed during nighttime hours.
Generally, drunken pedestrians are killed in urban and suburban locations. Because people drink at bars or clubs, some may assume that a lot of drunken walkers die near entertainment centers. While this is the case for some individuals, a lot of inebriated pedestrians actually die on a heavily traveled road that has a high speed limit, such as a highway or major thoroughfare.
In the event you are struck by a vehicle while you have a few drinks in your system, your case may become more complicated. FindLaw points out that judges will look at the actions of the driver and the pedestrian to determine the degree of responsibility for the accident. The driver may argue that you contributed to your accident by being intoxicated.
Even if a pedestrian has taken a few drinks before an accident with a vehicle, it does not absolve the driver of the responsibility to be watchful for pedestrians. A pedestrian injured by another vehicle should have legal representation to help prevent the other party from using the pedestrian’s potentially inebriated state as a fog to avoid legitimate accountability for the accident.
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