Articles Posted in Boston Drunk Driving Accidents

Holiday Ride-share And Impaired-Driver Risk

Ride-sharing should make Boston safer during the holiday season. Most nights it does. But when an Uber or Lyft driver is impaired, passengers and other motorists can be left facing injuries and a complicated insurance landscape. If you were hurt after a festive night out because your ride-share driver was under the influence, you have rights, and the law provides multiple paths to recovery. The key is to act quickly while the evidence is still within reach, then ensure the right insurance coverage is triggered for the driver’s status at the time of the crash.

Why Ride-share Trip Status Matters

As Thanksgiving and Christmas approach in Boston, office celebrations, Friendsgiving dinners, and family gatherings start to fill the calendar. Alcohol is often part of these events, and unfortunately, so are drunk driving crashes. If you or someone you love has been hit by a drunk driver after a holiday party, you may be facing medical bills, time away from work, and a confusing set of questions about who is responsible.

Massachusetts law does more than hold the drunk driver accountable. In some situations, the bar, restaurant, or even the private party host who provided the alcohol may also be legally responsible. Understanding dram shop liability and social host duty can help you protect your rights and pursue the full compensation you deserve.

Jeffrey Glassman Injury Lawyers represents drunk driving victims throughout Boston and across Massachusetts, and this guide explains what you should know as the holiday season begins.

Massachusetts closed out the annual Labor Day impaired-driving enforcement wave on September 1 as part of the national “Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over” campaign. At Jeffrey Glassman Injury Lawyers, we recognize the effectiveness of high-visibility patrols, sobriety checkpoints, and public education efforts in preventing tragedies. When a crash does happen, they can also shape the evidence, the criminal charges, and the path to civil recovery. Below, we explain what the campaign is, why it runs in late August through Labor Day, how it connects to Massachusetts crash trends, and what steps victims should take after an impaired-driving collision.

What the enforcement wave is and when it ran in 2025

Each summer, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration coordinates a nationwide crackdown on impaired driving around Labor Day. In 2025, the enforcement period ran from August 15 to September 1, supported by paid and earned media that encouraged drivers to plan a sober ride. You likely saw messages like “Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over” and “Ride Sober or Get Pulled Over” across television, radio, digital platforms, and highway signs.

Late summer is a dangerous time on American roads and waterways. From mid-August through Labor Day, alcohol related crashes historically spike as travel, celebrations, and late nights increase. This year is no exception. Our drunk driving victims’ attorneys are tracking high-profile cases, new enforcement waves, and policy changes that matter to victims and their families. In this update, we walk through what happened in August and early September 2025, what these developments mean for your rights, and how we build strong civil cases for those harmed by impaired drivers.

What Happened in August 2025: A Snapshot of Tragedy and Accountability

Across the country, police and prosecutors announced charges in several heart-wrenching crashes. In Houston, two young men visiting friends were killed when an allegedly intoxicated driver slammed into their vehicle in Midtown. Prosecutors brought murder charges, reflecting how seriously Texas treats extreme intoxication and reckless conduct that causes deaths. Families and classmates held vigils and called for accountability.

The Human and Legal Cost of Impaired Driving

Every year in the Commonwealth, crashes caused by drivers under the influence shatter lives and place an enormous financial and emotional burden on victims and their families. Massachusetts law recognizes that innocent people injured by drunk driving deserve not only compassion but robust legal remedies that make them whole and deter future misconduct. This article explains those remedies from the vantage point of a Boston personal injury practice dedicated to protecting victims’ rights. Our Boston drunk driving team at Jeffrey Glassman Injury Lawyers has recovered compensation for crash survivors across the Commonwealth. We provide the following overview as a public service resource, not as individualized legal advice.

Massachusetts Drunk-Driving Statutes: A Foundation for Your Civil Claim

The head of the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles resigned this week after revelations that the department should have already suspended the commercial driver’s license of the man responsible for killing seven motorcycle riders in a horrific crash last weekend.

The car hauler he was driving collided with a group of motorcycle riders who were veterans and members of the Marine Jarheads motorcycle club enroute with their spouses to a nearby fundraiser. The defendant, a 23-year-old Springfield truck driver, has pleaded not guilty to seven counts of vehicular homicide.

Massachusetts Transportation Secretary Stephanie Pollack announced the resignation of Erin Deveney, registrar of the Massachusetts RMV, effective immediately after revelations the trucker was able to keep his Massachusetts commercial operator’s license, despite a history of serious traffic infractions, including a drunk driving arrest last month in Connecticut. Even more recently,  WCVB-TV reported Tuesday, he was involved in a June 3 rollover crash on an interstate in Texas. He also was arrested for drunk driving in 2013, and had his license suspended.

Boston is among the cities with the highest number of convicted drunk drivers on the roads, according to a new study by the insurance industry.

The report by QuoteWizard found Boston has the second highest number of drivers with drunk driving convictions of any city in the United States.

While it might sound like good news, and evidence of tough enforcement, our drunk driving injury attorneys in Boston know the number of drunk driving arrests only serves to illustrate the true extent of the problem. Most people convicted of drunk driving have previously driven drunk at least 80 times.drunk driving injury

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May is graduation season and is often a time of great joy and family gatherings.

Don’t let irresponsible use of alcohol or drugs turn the season into a tragedy. graduationsafety-300x119

There are more than 100 high schools in Suffolk, Norfolk, Bristol, Plymouth and Middlesex counties. And the Boston area is home to more than 50 colleges and universities, including Boston University, Harvard, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Our drunk driving injury lawyers in Boston urge parents and party hosts to take seriously the responsibility of safe hosting this graduation season. While additional liability can result from serving alcohol to those under age 21, even those hosting graduation parties for college students can face significant liability when an intoxicated guest causes injury, whether as a result of a motor-vehicle collision, assault or by other means.

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It is the most dangerous time of the year on the roads for young drivers, and alcohol is a factor in a significant number of these crashes.

From spring break until the end of graduation season, teenagers and young adults will be celebrating newfound freedoms, hitting the road with friends, and attending parties and family gatherings. Our drunk driving injury lawyers urge parents and friends to reduce the risk of tragedy by talking openly to young people about the dangers of driving intoxicated, and by being a proper role model. ambulance-300x201

And it’s not just alcohol that is cause for concern. As we’ve reported, the opioid crisis and increasingly permissive marijuana laws continue to increase the risk of a collision with a drugged driver. The Spring Break season began with an editorial in the Boston Herald that suggests drugged driving is now as serious a problem as drunk driving.

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Gov. Charlie Baker is recommending adoption of a state panel’s recommendation of a series of efforts to combat drunk driving. The measures target marijuana specifically, and would revoke a driver’s license for refusal to submit to testing when suspected of driving under the influence of marijuana.beerbottles-300x206

The commission, which included law enforcement, defense attorneys and civil rights activists, made 19 recommendations in response to passage of the 2016 ballot initiative that legalized recreational marijuana. Our Boston injury lawyers have written about the increasing risk of traffic collisions with intoxicated motorists under the influence of a substance other than alcohol. Such risks continue to increase because of relaxed marijuana laws and the opioid epidemic.

Recommendations include more drug-intoxication training for officers and changes aimed at better enforcement of marijuana possession and open-container laws.

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