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Speed and alcohol are often a deadly combination on the highways of Virginia. Police in Virginia Beach are investigating a deadly crash on North Great Neck Road that resulted in the death of 73-year-old Maria Grayson Fox.
Dispatchers received a call at about 10 p.m. Sunday for a crash involving two vehicles in the 1700 block of North Great Neck Road in Virginia Beach, WAVY.com reported.
According to police reports, Maria Grayson Fox was driving a Lexus SUV east on River Road. She was trying to make a right turn onto southbound Great Neck Road when her SUV was hit on the left rear by a Hyundai Sonata. Tragically, Fox died at the scene.
Police said both of the occupants of the Hyundai fled the scene on foot. Soon after the crash, police picked them both up. They were taken to a local hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
The driver of the Hyundai was a 35-year-old from Florida. Officials said alcohol and speed were believed to be factors in the crash. The driver was subsequently charged with DWI, (BAC .15-.20) 1st offense, hit and run, involuntary manslaughter DUI and refusal to take a blood or a breath test.
Our thoughts are with the family of Maria Grayson Fox at this tragic time.
This was the second fatal crash in Virginia Beach in the space of a weekend. On Saturday, a 35-year-old cyclist was killed while riding his bicycle on a crosswalk on Pacific Avenue.
Drunk driving kills scores of people every year on the streets of Virginia. We typically see an upsurge in DUI crashes in Virginia Beach over the summer months.
In 2017, Virginia recorded 7,285 alcohol-related wrecks, a 2.6 percent decrease on the previous year.
The state saw 248 deaths as a result of drunk drivers. Just under a third of all road deaths were linked to alcohol or drug consumption.
Although America has seen a large fall in drunk driving fatalities from 1980 onwards, the number of deaths plateaued in the late 1990s and has not fallen significantly since despite rigorous enforcement campaigns.
According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) an average of 29 people die every day in the United States from the actions of an alcohol-impaired driver. The figure equates to one death every 50 minutes. The annual cost of alcohol-related crashes to the economy totals more than $44 billion.
If you lose a loved one from the actions of a drunk driver, you may have grounds to file a wrongful death lawsuit. In some cases, Virginia allows extra damages, known as punitive damages, in drunk driving accidents.
Punitive damages may be sought when the defendant’s conduct is sufficiently willful or wanton and the intoxicated driver had a blood alcohol concentration of 0.15 percent or more or refused to take a breath test.
If you or a loved one has been involved in an accident involving a drunk driver, please call our Virginia Beach DUI accident lawyers today at (757) 455-0077.