Huron County Ohio Bus Accident Attorney | Bus Accident Illustrates That Traffic Collisions Can Result in Serious Criminal Charges

A charter bus driver in Attica, Ohio, located in Huron County, was charged with a DUI on a school outing to Cedar Point.  He drove the charter bus into a ditch.  The bus driver was charged with child endangerment, DUI, and driving a commercial vehicle without a license.  This incident can be used to make a very important relevant, if tangential point. Many people are surprised to find out the full extent of criminal charges that can be brought against a person as a result of reckless or negligent driving. They think that at worst they will get a ticket. Many people are surprised to learn that traffic tickets are actually criminal offenses that are punished criminally. Now the punishment may be small, such as a fine, but as many people are finding out, jail time is a real possibility when drunk driving is involved. It really changes your thoughts about driving home from the Canton bar or Cleveland Cavaliers game a little tipsy or smoking a little pot and getting behind the wheel in Wooster and saying it is no big deal because it is a short drive home or you are a good driver.  From Toledo to Warren to Cincinnati, cops and judges take drunk driving seriously, especially when the drunk driver harms or kills someone.  My friends who are criminal lawyers are always talking about how clients in general do not understand that they can go do jail if they screw up badly while driving. 
 
Also, if you are convicted of drunk driving, it makes the people you hurt’s  civil case against you for money damages very easy to prove. There is a presumption in Ohio law that if a person is drunk they caused the accident. When the criminal trial is over, the high burden of proof that had to be met to convict a person makes the liability portion of the car accident case a veritable “slam dunk.”
 
The outlook gets very grim when you kill someone as a result of drinking.  Recently a Columbus father and son are on trial for the two women they allegedly killed while driving.  Alcohol was allegedly involved in the deaths, and the Columbus prosecutors have brought charges of aggravated vehicular homicide.  It is a sad story that may end with serious jail time if there is a conviction.  I bet the father and son never believed they would be dealing with such a serious criminal matter as a family when they got in the car that night.   
 
The moral of this article is that if you think you won’t go to jail when you get pulled over on I-77 or I-71 after a party where you have been drinking, think again. You just might get to see what the inside of a jail cell is like first hand.  Use a designated driver.  


If you have been hurt in a Attica car crash, call the Huron County car accident lawyers at Chester Law Group at 1-800-218-4243 or order your FREE BOOK entitled “The Insider’s Guide to Handling Ohio Accident Claims” at www.chesterlaw.com.