Drunken Driving Accidents

Wisconsin will join six other states in a weekend crackdown on impaired driving on Interstate 94.

The I-94 Corridor Traffic Enforcement Project will begin on Friday evening and end early Saturday morning. The project involves local, county and state police from Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota and Wisconsin.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 491 people died in traffic-related deaths over the 4th of July weekend in 2008. Forty-three percent of those deaths involved a driver or motorcyclist with a blood alcohol percentage of at least 0.08%.

A new study on the severity and frequency of drunken driving in Illinois was published recently.

The study found that 35% of the 600 traffic fatalities that occurred between 1994 and 2008 involved drinking. The study also found that the portion of Interstate 94 in Cook County is ranked the eleventh  most dangerous road in the nation. There were 301 fatalities between 1994 and 2008.

Interstate highways and other heavily used roads had the highest death counts. Alcohol was reported in 31% of fatal crashes on state roads and 39% on county roads. There were 37,261 deaths from car accidents in 2008.

Pitman, Kyle & Sicula is a Wisconsin personal injury law firm representing victims of drunken driving accidents throughout the state.  Our Wisconsin injury attorneys have successfully represented injured people in almost every county. We know Wisconsin.

A Westford man is now facing drunken driving charges following a fatal crash. Prosecutors say 22-year-old Anthony Crescio rolled over his car early Saturday morning, killing 22-year-old Dustin Vredeveld.

Crescio admitted to police that he drank 10 – 12 beers while out at a bar. But he told officers that he and Vredeveld had met a man at the bar, and that it was this third person who was driving the car when it crashed. However, the crash scene investigation found the car was too packed with snow from the crash for there to have been more than two people inside and there were no footprints to indicate a third person may have fled the scene.

Crescio was previously convicted for two OWI’s earlier this year.

Pitman, Kyle & Sicula is a Wisconsin personal injury law firm representing victims of drunken driving accidents throughout the state.  Our Wisconsin injury attorneys have successfully represented injured people in almost every county. We know Wisconsin.

The number of fatalities on Wisconsin highways in October tied the record lowest number for the month since monthly traffic fatality statistics started being recorded approximately 70 years ago.

According to the Department of Transportation, there were 38 crashes last month in which 40 people were killed. The number of fatalities ties the lowest number of October fatalities set in 1944.

Nine fewer people were killed than in October last year and 25 fewer than the five-year average.

Since the beginning of 2009, 447 people have died on Wisconsin highways, including 74 motorcycle drivers, seven motorcycle passengers, 30 pedestrians and six bicyclists.

When comparing October 2009 to October 2008, Wisconsin has seen an 11 percent decrease in the number of fatalities. The five-year average through October is 609 traffic fatalities, so the 2009 10-month total of 447 is 27% below the average.

Pitman, Kyle & Sicula is a Wisconsin personal injury law firm handling car accident cases throughout the state.  Our Wisconsin injury attorneys have successfully represented injured people in almost every county. We know Wisconsin.

A Fitchburg woman was killed in a two-vehicle crash just after midnight Sunday near Mount Horeb.

Mackenzie A. Reynolds, 28, was eastbound on Hwy. 18-151 when she was hit by 17-year-old Nathan Zander of Cross Plains who was going westbound in the eastbound lanes. Zander’s Ford Ranger pick-up truck hit Reynolds’ car head-on.

Reynolds was pronounced dead at the scene. Her passenger, 28-year-old Jerry J. Kurt, of Fitchburg, was taken to UW Hospital by MedFlight with life-threatening injuries. Police said Zander remains hospitalized in serious condition.

Zander was tentatively charged with homicide by the intoxicated use of a vehicle. Eight minutes before the crash, the Sheriff’s Office reported, there was a call about a possibly intoxicated driver on the highway.

Toxicology reports show the teacher who was involved in the double-fatal crash in Washington County was intoxicated at the time of the accident

Rachael Olson, 34, had a BAC of 0.24% at the time of the accident which killed her and claimed the life of 60-year-old Bette Voek.

Olson, a sixth-grade teacher at Badger Middle School in West Bend, traveling southbound on Hwy. 144 in Washington County near Farmington when she crossed the center line and collided head-on with Donald Voeks, 58, and his wife Bette. Both Donald and his Bette had to be extricated from their vehicle.

According to authorities, Olson had been drinking at a West Bend tavern from 4 to 9 p.m. that day. Text messages found on her cell phone indicate that she may have been on her way to visit a friend. Olson’s BAC at the time of the accident was three times the legal limit.

The crash occurred 3 miles from the Voekses home.

Pitman, Kyle & Sicula is a Wisconsin personal injury law firm representing victims of drunken driving accidents throughout the state.  Our Wisconsin injury attorneys have successfully represented injured people in almost every county. We know Wisconsin.

After June of 2010 it will be illegal for motorists to drive without insurance. The mandatory insurance law just approved as part of the state budget won’t make motorists prove they have insurance unless they are pulled over by the police for an unrelated traffic violation.

The Department of Transportation is still ironing out the details, but we know this much:

• Wisconsin drivers will be required to carry with them proof, e.g. a card or a letter from an insurer.
• If a driver is stopped on suspicion of a traffic violation, the officer can ask for proof of insurance. A $10 ticket can be issued if the driver has insurance, but fails to provide proof. Those who don’t have insurance may be fined up to $500.
• Underinsured motorist coverage will be required for state drivers on new or renewed policies starting November 1st.
• Motorists will need to have a policy providing at least $50,000 in bodily injury coverage for one person, $100,000 in bodily injury coverage per accident and $15,000 to cover property damage.

The state of Wisconsin’s drunken driving campaign and subsequent enforcement came to a headway this past Labor Day with more than 1,200 arrests.

The campaign, part of the national effort called “Drunk Driving. Over the Limit. Under Arrest.,” ran from August 21 through Labor Day. It included 2,700 officers from more than 320 police departments, sheriff’s offices and the State Patrol.

In addition to the OWI citations, authorities issued 52,000 additional citations, including:

• 9,155 speeding violations
• 5,432 seat belt citations
• 2,401 operating after revocation or suspension citations
• 847 traffic sign or traffic light citations
• 221 open intoxicant citations
• 145 child safety restraint citations

The campaign also led to the arrest of 65 felons, 211 people arrested for drugs and 413 arrests for outstanding warrants.

Last year, authorities made 37,000 were convicted of drunken driving, or the equivalent of the city of Beloit.

Wisconsin State Journal writer Jason Stein posted the criminal status for drunken driving in the surrounding midwest states. They are as follows:

Illinois

First and second offenses are class A misdemeanors, third and subsequent offenses are class 4 felonies

Iowa

First offense is serious misdemeanor, second offense within 12 years is aggravated misdemeanor, third or subsequent offense is class D felony

Michigan

First and second offenses are misdemeanors, third or subsequent offenses within 10 years are felonies

Minnesota

Fourth-degree drunk driving (no aggravating factors): Misdemeanor

Third-degree drunk driving (one aggravating factor): Gross misdemeanor

Second-degree drunk-driving (two aggravating factors): Gross misdemeanor

First-degree drunk driving (three or more aggravating factors): Felony

Aggravating Factors: (1) any prior drunk-driving offense; (2) driving with an alcohol concentration higher than 0.20; or, (3) driving with a passenger less than 16 years old if the passenger is more than 36 months younger than the driver.

Wisconsin

First offense is a municipal offense; the second through fourth offenses are misdemeanor, and the fifth and subsequent are a Class H felony which is punishable by a fine not to exceed $10,000 or a term of imprisonment not to exceed 6 years, or both.

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Pitman, Kyle & Sicula is a Wisconsin personal injury law firm representing victims of drunken driving accidents throughout the state.  Our Wisconsin injury attorneys have successfully represented injured people in almost every county. We know Wisconsin.

A 24-year-old Milwaukee motorcyclist was killed in a hit-and-run crash early Sunday morning.

Brandon Boston was riding along Green Bay Avenue when an SUV traveling in the opposite direction turned in front of him. Boston died at the hospital.

According to the police, the driver of the SUV did not stop after the crash. The driver of the SUV was later arrested at his home.

Authorities believe alcohol may have been involved.

Pitman, Kyle & Sicula is a Wisconsin personal injury law firm handling motorcycle accident cases through out the state.  Our Wisconsin injury attorneys have successfully represented injured people in almost every county. We know Wisconsin.