Year in and year out, over 200 New Mexicans die because of crash caused by a drunk driver. That is almost half of the people killed here in any kind of motor vehicle crash each year. (I am told these figures come from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.)

And it gets worse. Approximately 1745 New Mexicans were hospitalized with a brain injury in 2001, and alcohol was a significant factor in approximately 50% of those brain injuries. (Most of the statistics in this article come from a very useful handbook: the New Mexico Traumatic Brain Injury Resource Manual (“TBI Manual”), available from the New Mexico Brain Injury Advisory Council, <www.nmbiac.com> or 1-800-311-2229)

I represent, and have represented, many persons who have been injured because of people driving while DWI and DUI, and numerous families of those who have died because of a drunk driver. It isn’t pretty. Often, families are torn apart because of the death of a loved one, or sometimes maybe even worse, because a loved one has suffered a devastating “traumatic brain injury” (“TBI”).

One of the ironies of drunk driving crashes is that it is often not the drunk driver himself who is killed or who suffers the brain injury. Why? Because the drunk is nice and relaxed when the impact happens, while the innocent victims often see the car coming at them and naturally tense up. This can lead to more serious injuries and death.

Why do we have such a problem with drunk driving in New Mexico and why are there so many DWI & DUI crashes? I am not going to try to answer those questions in this article, concentrating more here on the effects of those drunk driving crashes. But, I cannot resist making a few comments from personal observations. In New Mexico, especially outside the Albuquerque/Santa Fe area, there has been a love-hate relationship with drinking alcohol. We say we disapprove of it and pass laws restricting the sale and use of alcohol. But, we love to drink beer and other alcoholic beverages.

I have lived in Southern New Mexico for most of my life. Until a few years ago, if most anyone I knew was going to go out-of-town, say to Albuquerque, or even up the road to Elephant Butte, the last stop on the way out of town was at a drive-thru window at a package liquor store or supermarket. A 6-pack per person was needed for the drive there. While it is now illegal to have an ‘open container’ in a vehicle, if one goes to a party or goes out for an evening on the town, someone who had a few ‘open containers’ may now be driving.

And our roads make it especially dangerous to be on the road at the same time as a drunk driver. For instance, we have had a rash of bad crashes because of cars going the wrong way on the Interstate, then hitting victims’ cars head-on. These kind of crashes often lead to death or ‘traumatic brain injuries’. The drivers of the wrong-way vehicles are usually drunk. So, it is their fault, but that is little consolation to the victims and their families.  In the newspaper articles about these head-on Interstate crashes highway officials are often quoted that they checked, and all the warning signs that are supposed to be up were properly located and installed. So, I guess the state highway department concludes there is nothing they need to do. Well, given how often people go the wrong way, by definition there must be more the highway department needs to do to protect us. By definition, there are more or different signs, warnings, or other protective devices called-for. But do not hold your breath waiting for them to do anything, because they have checked, and all the signs that they put up are still up, so no more needs to be done. My guess is we will have to wait until a family member of a state highway official gets maimed or killed before they do something.

Oh that’s right, I was going to talk about the effects of drunk driving crashes on the victims. The effects on the victims’ families are pretty clear when the victim dies. But, what about when the victim lives, but has a ‘traumatic brain injury’?

First, what is a ‘traumatic brain injury’? This is what the TBI Manual says:

“The brain controls everything we do, say, feel, and think. It controls the very functions that keep us alive including our breathing, circulation, digestion, hormones, and immune system. The brain allows us to experience emotion and express ourselves. Damage to this vital organ can have far reaching implications and significantly impact an individual’s life and the lives of those around them for the rest of their lives.

A traumatic brain injury (TBI) is an insult to the brain caused by an external physical force that can produce a diminished or altered state of consciousness (such as a coma). A TBI can result in physical, psychological, behavioral or emotional impairments and may be temporary or permanent. It can cause partial or total disability. A TBI does not include degenerative (brain disease) or congenital (hereditary) injuries. Causes of TBIs include motor vehicle accidents, assaults, falls, sports injuries, bicycle and pedestrian accidents, and shaking babies.”

The TBI Manual lists many interesting statistics, including: Every year, one and a half million Americans sustain a TBI, and more than 50,000 of them die. Alcohol is involved over half the time, and males between 15 to 24 years old are at highest risk of a brain injury, because of their risk-taking behaviors and lifestyles. “Vehicle crashes are the primary cause of brain injury for all age groups.”

The “Social Implications” of Traumatic Brain Injuries are stunning. The TBI Manual lists:

• The divorce rate for individuals with a traumatic brain injury is significantly higher than for the rest of the population.
• Loss of employment or not being able to hold a job is significantly higher than for the non-brain-injured population.
• Social reasoning skills are diminished in individuals with brain injury. They may not be able to consider alternative approaches to a situation, are not able to plan ahead and may respond to a situation so that they may receive immediate gratification without thinking of the consequences of their actions. They may not be able to process more long-term goals.
• Judgment can change and they make poor decisions.
• Social isolation is significant. Individuals withdraw form family, friends and others.

Participation in social activities can be one of the greatest challenges to people with brain injury. Social understanding and judgment involves complex thinking processes. Even several years post-injury, many people with traumatic brain injury continue to experience problems with social interactions. These social implications are startling and have devastating effects on the individual with a brain injury, family members, friends and others with whom the individual comes in contact. Brain injury impacts countless people across the country every year. Many will experience social challenges for the rest of their lives.

People who receive a traumatic brain injury can be successfully treated. For many years, I have been helping people who have been injured by negligent truckers and others get the money they need to get the treatment they need.

18 Wheeler crashes are a big problem in Southern New Mexico. Commercial trucks, semi-tractors with trailers, are common on our highways and roads in Southwestern New Mexico. The long distance over-the-road drivers and their trucks seem to be half the traffic on Interstates 10 & 25, especially during the winter months.

In my experience, the most common serious motor vehicle crashes involving 18 wheelers here are on I-10 on windy days and during dust storms. Have you noticed that almost everyone slows down or stops during a dust storm except many of the 18 wheeler drivers? They just continue at full speed ahead down the road, with zero or no visibility. Whether its because they are on a tight schedule, late, taking ‘uppers’ to stay awake, or are just reckless, 18 wheeler drivers who barrel along in our dust storms are deadly weapons.

I have represented the families of numerous people caught in dust storms in our area who were slowing down or had even tried to pull over and stop. They were seriously injured or killed when one or more 18 wheelers slammed into them from behind, going the regular speed limit, or way over a safe speed for the conditions. When this happens, it often ends up with 6, 8, 10 or more vehicles smashed together in a tangle of metal and bodies. It is a miracle more people do not die every year.

How many people do die every year and how many 18 wheeler accidents are there? The U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Safety Administration’s Large Truck Crash Causation Study from September, 2002, has many statistics from year 2000. There were 437,573 “police-reported crashes involving large trucks” in 2000. Almost 5,000 people died in those large truck crashes, and about 100,000 people were injured. Of those killed, the over-whelming majority, over 4,000 of the 5,000, were occupants of the vehicle other than the large truck. Of those injured, the same is true – about 80% of the injuries were to the occupants of the other, smaller, vehicle. The 18 wheeler drivers were only a little over 10% of the killed and injured.

The Study says there were over 8 million registered large trucks in 2000, and they drove almost 208 billion (not million) miles that year. There were almost 15 fatalities per 100,000 of those large trucks, and 1.2 fatalities per 100 million large truck miles traveled. There were almost 1,200 persons injured per 100,000 large trucks and 94 injured persons per 100 million large truck miles traveled..

So, do these statistics show a problem? Most of us have heard a saying that goes something like, “there are lies, damn lies, and statistics ….”

The same Study has statistics for motor vehicle crashes in 2000 that did not involve “large trucks”. There were about 217 million registered vehicles which drove almost 2.8 trillion miles that year. There were a little over 19 fatalities per 100,000 such vehicles and 1.5 fatalities per 100 million miles traveled. There were about 1,470 injured persons per 100,000 such vehicles and 116 injured persons per 100 million vehicle miles traveled.

So, there are a few less fatal and injury crashes per mile traveled with 18 wheelers, but I believe that the problem is that, in 18 wheeler crashes, it is you and me, the general driving public (not the large truck drivers) who usually get hurt or killed.

By federal regulation, commercial truck companies must have a least one million dollars in liability insurance for each of their trucks and drivers. You would think that the truck companies’ insurers, if not the truck companies themselves, would take more steps to make their drivers drive more carefully, given the horrible injuries and deaths, resulting in many dollars in damages for the deaths and injuries. All I can guess is that some of them see the money they pay the families of fatal victims as just another cost of doing business. Otherwise, they would not motivate their drivers to driver too long, too far, and to ‘cook’ their driver’s logs, to hide these violations of the regs.

So, what can you do? If you get caught in a dust storm, immediately pull as far off the road as you can. While I cannot give you advice on this, what I do is turn off the lights on my vehicle once I am far off the roadway. This is so another approaching vehicle does not see my lights and aim for them (and me), thinking I am still on the road.

If you need to go on a long trip, fly. It is much safer, contrary to our gut fears, than driving. Or, hitch a ride in an 18 wheeler ……