With the Super Bowl just a couple days away, everyone’s likely busy picking out their New York Giants or New England Patriots jerseys and solidifying their party plans. But as a car accident attorney in Sacramento, I know that this is also the time of year when we need to be especially safe out there on the roads. Super Bowl parties provide ample opportunity for over-consumption, and not everyone plans ahead with a designated driver.
To keep California roads safe this weekend, the California Highway Patrol has released a statement urging caution on the roads and encouraging drivers to report suspicious driving that could be a sign of intoxication.
On Super Bowl Sunday last year alone, the CHP arrested 452 people for drunk driving. Alcohol-related collisions also accounted for the loss of two lives on that day. This year, the CHP hopes to improve upon those sad numbers.
Among other things, a spokesman for the California Highway Patrol encourages anyone who knows they’re going to be drinking alcohol to assign a designated driver to get people home safe. Travelers are also being asked to dial 911 if they think someone on the road is driving under the influence of alcohol (I’m sure they mean you should dial 911 from a hands-free device, right?).
Another tip could apply to just about any day: use your seatbelt! The CHP spokesman said that this simple yet sometimes overlooked step is the best deterrent to suffering a serious injury in a crash.
If you ask me, the above guidelines sound like good advice at any time of the year. Too often people use momentous events as an excuse to let certain safety precautions slide, and as a Sacramento personal injury lawyer, I can tell you that this isn’t wise. By all means, people should have fun this weekend, but that fun shouldn’t cost you or anyone else their life.
The flu epidemic of 1917-1918 killed 1.5 times more people in 6 months than World War I did in four years. Some sources put the death toll as high as 20 million. As you can imagine medical doctors where overwhelmed treating patients. So much so, that many of them only treated those patients with the most favorable outcome, that ruled out the very young and the very old.