February 2012 is Becoming "Chicagoland DUI/Alcohol Related Accident" Month

Just to be clear: that headline is not true. It is intended to be grimly ironic.

But it has become apparent that a recent spate of injury and fatal auto accidents in Chicagoland all share one common factor: a suspected drunk driver that is responsible for causing them.

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In fact, the four previous blog entries describe auto accidents which have now been revealed to be alcohol-related. Let's recap these incidents, which all took place within a single four-day period:
 

• A 30-year old man died on Chicago's South Side this past weekend when the Ford Taurus he was riding in crashed head-on into a CTA bus. The car's driver, a 27-year old man who was injured in the collision, has now been charged with aggravated driving under the influence.
   
• We already told you about the suspected drunk driver from Chicago who slammed into the back of a patrol car on the Eisenhower Expressway. A 42-year old Brookfield man who was sitting in the back of the squad car to keep warm died in that wreck.
   
• A 24-year old man was driving his car in the Austin neighborhood in Chicago’s South Side when his back seat passenger began to vomit out the window. When the driver turned to look back at his passenger he lost control of the car and as a result, the passenger died from blunt force trauma and cervical spine injuries. The driver was cited for a number of moving violations including DUI.
  
  
• A 29-year old Chicago woman drove her Nissan the wrong way on Lake Shore Drive in Chicago and collided with a Toyota. A woman in the Toyota needed surgery to repair facial fractures - and the Nissan driver was charged with aggravated DUI.

We can only hope that the individuals responsible for this carnage are not only brought to justice, but are also held accountable in civil court if the appropriate plaintiffs choose to file personal injury (or wrongful death) lawsuits.