Five Telltale Signs of a Drunk Driver

You and your wife were driving down East Plume, having just had a lovely anniversary dinner at the Palace on Plume, when you noticed a car behaving rather oddly. He took the turn from Granby incredibly slowly, and as he came toward your car, he kept turning his blinkers on and off. Then without any warning, he veered straight toward you. You were about to pull to the side to avoid him, when he—just as suddenly—corrected his path back to his own lane.

You and your wife were practically hyperventilating as the car sped passed you. You decided to pull into the Tap Room’s parking lot in order to catch your breath. As you sat there, staring out your windshield at the bar in front of you, you couldn’t help but wonder. Was that guy crazy? Did he have a death wish? Or was he horribly and dangerously drunk? Honestly, how could you tell?

Be Aware of These Five Drunk Driving Signs

We all know that drinking impairs your judgment, reaction time, focus, and coordination. However, according to the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, one-tenth of the U.S. population still believe that they can handle a car while intoxicated. This is why it is extraordinarily important to be able to recognize the following five signs that a driver is intoxicated, before it’s too late. Otherwise, you could be driving your family straight into a perilous, and inevitably dangerous, situation.

• Peculiar speed changes. When a car randomly speeds up, slows down, and then speeds up again without any particular justification, the driver could dozing off or unaware of his surroundings due to too much alcohol.
• Quirky lane changes. Irregular or erratic swerving, jerking, swaying, or straddling a lane can be signs that the driver isn’t seeing clearly, or is dazed from too much alcohol consumption.
• Sudden braking, overcorrecting, or stopping at green lights or empty crosswalks. Some drivers become overly paranoid when they know they’ve had too much to drink, and will abruptly stop or continuously overcorrect for fear that they will be pulled over.
• Inappropriate signaling. Sometimes drunk drivers realize that they need to be following traffic rules such as signaling, but they become easily distracted and confused. The result: they use their signals too much, turn the wrong ones on, or forget to turn them off.
• Misjudging distance. When a driver is drunk, it can be hard for him to properly judge perspective and distance; this causes him to follow too closely, take extremely wide (or extremely tight) turns, get too close while passing, and even possibly striking objects, people, and vehicles.

Every day drunk drivers hurt other motorists, kill pedestrians, and destroy families. They naively believe a few drinks won’t affect them or impair their driving.

You know better! Don’t let drunk drivers hurt your family. Stay cautious and alert to potentially erratic behavior. If you suspect a driver is intoxicated, keep as much distance as possible between your cars and safely notify traffic control of his behavior.

Drunk driving is an epidemic, but you can protect your family from its horrors. Teach your children that it is never okay to drink and drive, tell them the importance of staying alert for signs of possible danger, and use your social media connections to help raise awareness of drunk driving precautions.

Need more information about drunk driving risks or accident rights? Contact us today for a consultation. We’ll be happy to answer your questions and walk you through your claim so you get the settlement and justice you deserve.