As a New Jersey drunk driving defense lawyer, I defend numerous clients accused of driving under the influence of alcohol. Many of these people made the simple mistake of having a few drinks and then deciding to drive without giving due consideration to their condition. The penalties for driving while intoxicated in New Jersey can be quite hefty, and recently more and more women are finding out what it's like to be stopped for DWI. According to a recent news article, there seems to be an uptrend in the number of female drivers being arrested for drunk driving.
At The Law Offices of Jonathan F. Marshall, we have commented on a number of DWI injury cases involving women. Recently, a Westfield, NJ, woman was charged with second-degree aggravated assault with a motor vehicle for hitting a pedestrian just outside a Lord & Taylor store; she was allegedly drunk at the time.
Another DWI case involving a female driver later occurred in Dennis Township when a grade school teacher was allegedly intoxicated when she hit another vehicle from behind in traffic. According to news reports, this is happening all around the country, not just in New Jersey.
Perhaps television has made afternoon wine-tasting parties look hip and cool, with stay-at-home moms and real housewives sipping chardonnay or mixed drinks with their girlfriends. But the potential aftermath is serious, especially when it comes to injury accidents or worse.
According to a recent article, while four times as many men as women are arrested nationwide for drunk driving, the number of women facing DWI charges increased by 29 percent during the decade that ended in 2007. In that year, 162,493 women were arrested for driving while intoxicated, according to FBI statistics. Surprisingly, arrests of men declined 7.5 percent during the same period.
The good news, if one could call it that, is that fatalities involving women driving drunk are not necessarily skyrocketing. For example, in Virginia the number of highway fatalities attributed to drunk female drivers fell from 50 in 2007 to 34 last year; the number attributed to intoxicated men increased from 235 to 242. And in Maryland, the number of intoxicated women involved in fatal crashes held steady at 16 from one year to the next; the number of intoxicated men dropped from 141 in 2007 to 122 last year.
At any rate, the trend for DWI arrests seems to be up for women. Man or woman, the results can be just as devastating to ones career or family life. This why we always recommend that anyone arrested for drunk driving, breath test refusal, or drug DUI seek the services of a qualified legal professional experienced in DWI defense.
Rise in Drunken-Driving Arrests of Women Deplored, WashingtonPost.com, August 20, 2009
