• 04
  • August
    2011

Most people who drive while intoxicated do not intend to harm anyone. But in some cases, they do. And when they do harm an innocent victim, the result is frequently not a minor injury, but a major lifelong ordeal that will cost the victim a fortune to treat.

People cannot help but ask, "what are drunk drivers thinking?" when they get on the road in a condition where they cannot drive safely. The answer is that not only are their driving abilities impaired, but their thinking about those abilities. The impaired decision-making too often leads to terrible drunk driving accidents.

Psychologists say that people who cause drunk driving accidents react unpredictably. Their reactions fall into two broad categories: rational and irrational. There are many reasons why many drunk driving accidents also become hit-and-run accidents.

Under the rational category, drunk drivers who get in an accident may be afraid of the legal consequences of what they've done. They may also be in possession of drugs and want to avoid that fact being discovered.

For the irrational reactions, complicated by intoxication, many drunk drivers panic. They think about themselves and their likely disgrace, rather than the victim. They may flee the scene without trying to help the victim or summoning emergency assistance for them.

People are naturally curious about what the perpetrators of drunk driving accidents think. They wonder how they would react if they were the drunk driver, and they wonder how a victim can begin to work out their feelings about their unjustified fate. Baton Rouge drunk driving accident attorneys are curious as well, but they also remember that the driver's feelings are not the most important consideration for drunk driving accident victims. What they need most is compensation for their injuries, so that they can move on with their lives.

Source: Buffalo News "Inside the minds of hit-and-run drivers" Jul. 18, 2011