According to the Federal Highway Administration, as of 2008, there are as many as 21.6 million licensed drivers aged 70 and older and this number is expected to triple in the next 20 years.

While elderly drivers are less likely to speed, drink, or drive recklessly compared to other high-risk drivers such as teens, they are extremely vulnerable to intersection accidents, angle crashes, or overtaking/merging collisions. The primary reason for this is their age – their declining reflexes, flexibility, visual acuity, and motor skills make it either difficult for them to see the other vehicle (or object) or even if they do see another vehicle, they may misjudge the distance or fail to react in a timely manner to it.

If you live in California, with an elderly parent or grandparent, or if you have relatives or people you care about who are still driving despite their age, you may want to consider enrolling the elderly driver in driving programs even before a car accident can happen.

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In Atascadero, California, a day-care provider was arrested for driving under the influence and child endangerment when she crashed her SUV on her way to school.

Four children were inside the SUV, including the driver’s own child, whose ages ranged from 2 to 4 years old. According to the police, neither of the kids were restrained by child car seats or even seatbelts.

The driver, 42-year old Dana Cheri Amador offers day-care services from an Atascadero home. She was driving her 2003 GMC Yukon to school when she suddenly veered to the right, hit a parked car, overcorrected before going down an embankment.

Luckily however, despite the lack of proper restraints, none of the children were hurt.

Police have stated that upon her arrest, her preliminary blood-alcohol content level was more than three times the legal limit of .08 percent.

Amador was detained in County Jail but posted a $100,000 bail for her release. She is charged with two felonies, DUI and four counts of child endangerment.

The DUI crash is reminiscent of the story of Diane Schuler, a New York mother who killed 8 people, including her own children, in a fatal crash because she was driving drunk and drugged. Fortunately, this incident has a much happier ending, since none of the child passengers were injured while Amador was driving.

While men are generally seen as the traditional drunk drivers, the paradigm is shifting. More and more women are drinking and driving, more are also causing crashes and getting arrested.

The law against driving under the influence does not distinguish gender. It is illegal to drive intoxicated, whether the driver is male or female, old or young, for any reason. The law is explicit in this regard and for good reason.

Driving under the influence has proven to be a huge factor in motor vehicle accidents and every year, thousands of people are killed and thousands more are injured because of an alcohol-related crash.

Under the circumstances, in case of a car accident and the driver is proven to be drunk, he will be facing criminal charges which can also be aggravated if other people get hurt or killed.

Also, the driver can be held civilly-liable by the victim or the family of the victim for damages. Car accidents usually involve injuries, property damage and pain, so the injured party has the right to be compensated for the negligence of the drunk driver.

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With the holiday season fast approaching, the Orange County Sheriff’s Department got an early Christmas gift when they received a three-year, $874,852 state grant as an aid to their efforts to curb drunk driving.

The grant couldn’t have come at a better time as the holiday’s festivities also bring about parties and events with an unlimited supply of booze – after all, alcohol is most certainly a staple in office Christmas parties.

As a pre-emptive move against the increased number of drunk drivers this season, the grant money will be used to pay overtime compensation for deputies to staff checkpoints, extra patrols, warrant searches, and court stings.

This will largely be implemented in the Sheriff Department’s 12 contract cities which are mostly in South County.
Aside from a 17-day winter holiday enforcement campaign from Dec. 18 to Jan. 3, DUI enforcements will be held on the following holidays:

•    Super Bowl Sunday
•    St. Patrick’s Day
•    Cinco de Mayo
•    Independence Day
•    Memorial Day weekends

An estimated number of 36 people are killed every day by drunk drivers and according to the National Highway and Safety Administration’s (NHTSA), more than 30 percent of 35,000 people killed in car accidents were alcohol-related deaths.

California has seen a 9 percent decrease in the number of DUI fatalities but keeping the numbers down is always a challenge.

The increased presence of law enforcement this holiday, aside from California’s strict DUI laws certainly sheds a whole new meaning to the Christmas jingle which goes, “He knows when you’ve been bad or good so be good for goodness’ sake.”

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The new S-curve on San Francisco’s Bay Bridge which just opened last September 8, has taken a turn for the worst.

After more than 42 non-fatal car accidents since it opened, a big-rig truck took a big plunge (more than 200 feet) and killed its driver. The 56-year-old Hayward man was allegedly speeding when he lost control of his truck.

According to the investigators, the truck, loaded with pears, was traveling 10 mph over the speed limit when it tipped over the 3-foot-high rail and fell down onto Yerba Buena Island. It is also suspected that the load shifted when the driver hit the S-curve which helped tip the truck over the side.

The driver died immediately after the accident.

Despite the numerous accidents and complaints about the S-curve’s “dangerous” design and the recent fatal accident, the California Highway Patrol believes that it’s safe. They maintain that there is no design flaw and that if people merely followed the posted speed limit, they can make it through the S-curve safely.

Nevertheless, Caltrans will be adding more safety measures and warning signs to get drivers to slow down when approaching the notorious S-curve. 6-inch-wide reflective strips on the barriers will be added as well as a large overhead sign with flashing beacons warning about the speed limit.

According to the CHP, the accident could have easily been prevented as speed has always been a factor in every traffic collision which occurred in the S-curve.

While a lot of drivers would point fingers or play the blame game after an accident, from road defects to faulty designs – most of the time, it is not always the case.

Driver error is still the leading cause of motor vehicle accidents and speeding is a bad driver habit common to most Americans. In fact, more than 1,000 Americans are killed by speeding every month.

Speeding may save time or get you to work promptly but saving your life is more important than shaving a few seconds off your travel time.

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