Sometimes drivers make mistakes on our Fayetteville roads. Maybe a driver failed to judge how quickly another vehicle ahead was stopping and rear-ended the car. Maybe a driver thought that he or she could safely drive at the posted speed limit on a wet road and crashed into a ditch.
Although people mistakes, one mistake a driver should never make is to get behind the wheel of a vehicle after drinking too much alcohol. As we have all heard many times, drunk driving is dangerous, and it can lead to serious or fatal accidents.
Over the weekend, a 29-year-old Fayetteville woman was killed in a car accident after the vehicle she was riding in ran off of the road. Police reported that the driver of the vehicle was drunk. The driver survived the crash.
According to a release from the Fayetteville Police Department, the crash occurred Saturday morning on Pamalee Drive. A 32-year-old man was driving east on Pamalee Drive near Commonwealth Avenue with three passengers in his vehicle. Shortly before 2:30 a.m., the vehicle veered off of the road, crashing into several trees.
One of the passengers, a 29-year-old woman, was ejected from the vehicle when it struck the trees. She died from her injuries. Two other passengers and the driver were not killed in the crash. The conditions of the other passengers have not been reported. However, police did report that they arrested the driver and he has been charged with drunk driving.
Drunk driving accidents are tragic for so many reasons. When an individual gets behind the wheel of a vehicle after drinking, his or her judgment and vision may be impaired, causing the driver to make a mistake that he or she would have never made when sober. These mistakes often lead to serious or fatal accidents that could have been prevented. All too often, those who do suffer serious or fatal injuries in drunk driving accidents are innocent pedestrians, passengers or other motorists.
Source: WRAL.com, “Fayetteville woman dies in wreck; driver charged with DWI,” Derek Medlin, March 17, 2012