Criminal Law News

Las Vegas just added another fatality due to a drunk driving accident this past week.  Jason P. Swogger was arrested after he collided with Mark Poole’s car on December 17th.  The injuries Mr. Poole received were too traumatic and he died on the way to the hospital.  Mr. Swogger was treated at St. Rose Dominican Hospital and was determined to have been drinking prior to the accident.

Even with the crack down on drunk driving accidents over the past several years, they still seem to be happening at alarming rates.  There are around 17,000 deaths due to alcohol related auto accidents every year.  Programs like MADD,  DUI checkpoints and TV adverting seem to do little to bring down that number.  Even a 10% decrease in DUI related fatalies would save around 1,700 lives each year.  That’s 1,700 less families destroyed.

It’s hard to say what the next steps should be.  The penalties for drinking and driving are bigger than ever.  Clubs and bars are being held accountable for over serving their customers and there are enough PSA’s on the subject to make every person over the age of 18 well aware of the problem.  Is this a cultural epidemic?  Are Americans willing to accept tens of thousands of preventable deaths every year?  These questions are still up for debate since there is nothing to support a turn around in the statistics.