Chris Rybicki, a 35-year-old Lynn resident, sustained serious injuries early Saturday when he was struck by an allegedly drunk Peabody motorist driving a Volkswagen Passat. Rybicki was riding a Yamaha scooter at the time of the Salem car accident.
Police say that the driver, 25-year-old Beth Erin MacGillivray, had bloodshot eyes, her speech and her breath were slurred, and she smelled like alcohol. She reportedly admitted to earlier drinking four beers. MacGillivray, who failed two out of three sobriety tests, was arrested and charged with operating a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol with serious bodily injury, as well as her second offense of driving a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol.
Drunk Driving
According to a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration study that surveyed 6,999 people, one out of 12 drivers surveyed admitted that they’ve driven drunk at least once over the course of 12 months. One in five motorists say they’ve driven within two hours of consuming an alcoholic drunk. Four out of five drivers said they considered drunk driving to be a major threat to people’s safety.
Drunk driving impairs the senses, slows reflexes, dulls the mind, causes blurry vision, drowsiness, and makes it nearly impossibly for the motorist to stay in control of his/her vehicle. Our Boston, Massachusetts personal injury lawyers represent car crash victims that were injured because a motorist was driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
The US Department of Transportation says that drunk drivers are involved in 1/3rd of all deadly US auto accidents. Governors Highway Safety Association chairman Vernon Betkey has said that the number of traffic deaths could be reduced by 50% if drunk driving was eliminated and everyone used seatbelts.
Lynn man seriously injured when hit by alleged drunken driver, Itemlive, August 30, 2010
Government study: 1 in 12 drivers admit driving drunk, USA Today, August 25, 2010
Related Web Resources:
Impaired Driving, CDC
Drunk Driving, Insurance Information Institute
Our Boston car crash law firm is committed to helping our clients obtain their personal injury recovery.