There’s been a lot of news lately about America’s love affair with alcohol. In general, excessive drinking was on the rise in 2020, and it may not have slowed down yet.
Aside from the pandemic, where you live may play a role in whether you’re likely to overindulge in alcohol as well as your risk of being hit by a drunk driver.
Where does Kentucky stand when it comes to alcohol use and abuse?
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) defines excessive drinking as four or more drinks on any given occasion for women and five or more drinks at one time for men. Nationally, about 19% of adults drink to excess.
Kentucky is actually doing better than average: Only about 17.3% of people in this state are excessive drinkers, which makes Kentucky 17th lowest for drinking problems nationwide.
That’s the good news. The bad news is that Kentucky still isn’t well when it comes to drunk driving. Nationally, 28% of all road fatalities involve alcohol. While only 26.1% of fatal accidents in Kentucky are alcohol-related, it’s higher than might be expected given that 17.3% figure related to the number of alcohol abusers.
Essentially, this means that Kentucky may not be the “drunkest” state in the country, by any means, but it has its fair share of drunk drivers out there.
What can you do if you’ve been injured by a drunk driver?
If you’ve been injured in a crash caused by a drunk driver, you may find the insurance company eager to settle — but that’s only because they hope to get you to take a modest payment so they can quickly close out the case. Don’t cheat yourself out of fair compensation: Let an experienced attorney advocate for you.