What Are Five Kinds of Driver Impairment?

The five major kinds of driver impairment cause over half of the vehicle collisions in New Jersey. Speeding, turning unsafely, and other forms of aggressive driving cause most of the rest. Impaired drivers who cannot safely control their vehicles often cause serious collisions and catastrophic injuries.

All car crash victims are entitled to substantial compensation. But in many cases, a Newark personal injury lawyer can obtain additional compensation in these cases. Arguably, impaired drivers know they shouldn’t get behind the wheel. When they do so anyway, they deliberately ignore the possible consequences. Conscious disregard of a known risk is the standard for punitive damages in New Jersey.

Alcohol

Before 2020, the number of alcohol-related wrecks had been declining for several decades. Then, during pandemic lockdowns, roads emptied and traffic enforcement largely ceased. As a result, many drivers picked up bad habits, such as driving drunk. Generally, bad habits are easy to form and hard to break. This one is no exception.

Alcohol-related wrecks have unusually high fatality rates. Even if these victims survive, they normally sustain catastrophic (life-threatening) injuries that never fully heal, at least to an extent.

Most law enforcement offices have mandatory DUI arrest policies. Officers must arrest intoxicated drivers, regardless of the circumstances. Therefore, if the tortfeasor (negligent driver) was legally intoxicated, the negligence per se rule often applies in alcohol-related wreck claims. Tortfeasors are liable for damages as a matter of law if:

• They violate safety laws and
• Those violations substantially cause injuries.

“Liable” is basically legal responsibility. A third party is often financially responsible for damages in these cases. More on that below.

Damages in a car crash case usually include compensation for economic losses, such as medical bills, and noneconomic losses, such as pain and suffering. Additional punitive damages are available in extreme cases.

Intoxication usually sets in after three or four drinks. But alcohol impairment begins with the first drink. Evidence of impairment includes:

• Unsteady balance,
• Slurred speech,
• Odor of alcohol,
• Bloodshot eyes, and
• Prior stops (e.g. did the tortfeasor recently visit a place that served alcohol).

Individually, these bits of evidence don’t prove impairment. For example, fatigue and many other things cause bloodshot eyes. But the burden of proof in a civil case is only a preponderance of the evidence (more likely than not). So, the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.

Alcohol impairment breaches the duty of reasonable care. This legal responsibility requires drivers to be at their best, mentally, physically, and otherwise, when they operate motor vehicles.

We mentioned places that serve alcohol. New Jersey has a very broad dram shop law. The New Jersey Licensed Alcoholic Beverage Server Fair Liability Act holds licensed alcohol servers liable for injuries caused by intoxicated patrons if they served alcohol to visibly intoxicated people or minors, if they knew (or should have known) the customer was underage.

Drowsiness

Alcohol and fatigue have basically the same effects on the brain and body. Both conditions impair judgment ability and motor skills.

Alcohol and fatigue have something else in common. There’s no quick fix for either condition. Only time cures alcohol impairment or intoxication. Only sleep cures fatigue. Quick fixes, like drinking coffee or blasting the AC, don’t address the underlying effects of fatigue. They just make people feel more alert for a few minutes.

The negligence per se rule usually doesn’t apply in drowsy driver cases. So, a Hudson County personal injury lawyer normally uses circumstantial evidence to prove ordinary negligence. This evidence includes:

• Time of Day or Night: Most people are naturally drowsy at certain times of the day or night, usually early morning and late night, even if they slept well the previous night and especially if their daily schedules recently changed.
• Erratic Driving: Like the physical symptoms of alcohol impairment, erratic driving isn’t proof positive of extreme fatigue. But remember that the burden of proof in civil court is only more likely than not.
• Voluntary Statements: Generally, out-of-court statements are inadmissible at trial. But statements against interest are an exception to the hearsay rule. Tortfeasors often make such statements, mistakenly believing that they can shift “blame” for the “accident” away from their own negligence.

The five kinds of driver impairment sometimes overlap. For example, many fatigued truck drivers use amphetamines while they’re behind the wheel.

Distraction

Hand-held devices, which New Jersey lawmakers recently outlawed, garner most of the attention in this area, mostly because these gadgets combine all three forms of distraction:

• Visual (eyes off the road),
• Manual (at least one hand off the wheel), and
• Cognitive (mind off driving).

Although hand-held gadgets dominate the headlines, they’re just the tip of the iceberg in this context. Non-device distraction, such as using a hands-free gadget while driving, is much more common.

Hands-free devices are visually and cognitively distracting. Additionally, since they give people a false sense of security, these drivers often take risky chances behind the wheel. In fact, according to one study, using a hands-free speakerphone behind the wheel is more hazardous than driving drunk.

Other kinds of distraction include talking to passengers while driving and eating or drinking while driving. These other kinds of distraction highlight the difference between negligence and an accident.

If Mary turned her head to speak to a passenger and she didn’t see the car in front of her stop suddenly, most jurors might say that Mary was in the wrong place at the wrong time. But if Mary had been arguing with her boyfriend for several blocks, most jurors would say she was negligent.

Drugs

Legal and illegal drugs have basically the same mental and physical effects as alcohol and fatigue. However, the timing is different, at least in many cases.

Marijuana is a good example. Alcohol impairment builds slowly over time. But the impairing effects of marijuana usually hit users like a ton of bricks and fade over time. We don’t know that from personal experience. That’s just what we read somewhere.

Both negligence per se and the ordinary negligence doctrine are usually available in these cases, as outlined above.

Medical Condition

We mentioned the coronavirus pandemic above. This pandemic brought attention to the serious effects of a moderate illness, like the flu. Physical illness symptoms, like fatigue, pain, and watery eyes, drastically reduce concentration ability and therefore driving ability.

Once again, sick drivers are negligent drivers. They know they shouldn’t drive, but they don’t care about the possible consequences.

Serious illnesses, like epilepsy and heart disease, could cause a sudden loss of consciousness behind the wheel. If that happens, tortfeasors completely lose control of their vehicles. There’s no telling what may happen then.

Contact a Savvy Bergen County Lawyer

Injury victims are entitled to significant compensation. For a free consultation with an experienced personal injury lawyer in Newark, contact CourtLaw. Virtual, home, and hospital visits are available.