Car accidents can cost parents their life savings; here's how to protect yours.

On November 15, 2008 a driver received 15-years in prison for the death of a passenger, Jessica Nickless. Nickless must not have been wearing a seat belt, was thrown from a pickup truck after the driver lost control and it ran down an embankment beside a bridge. Two other passengers were also injured.

So why was the driver charged with the passenger's death and why did the driver receive 15-years in prison? The allegations included that the driver, Abram Urbina-Galvan had been drinking. The charges are reported as, vehicular homicide and serious injury by vehicle. Follow the link to read the AP article.

From a civil standpoint these are always troublesome cases for the people involved and a challenge for the lawyers. In most instances with the economy off its rails and unemployment running up around 10% in Iowa, there isn't enough insurance coverage to satisfy all the injured or dead passengers and unless their parents had adequate insurance coverage there isn't much a lawyer can do for them. Cases like this one demonstrate why it's important and a good reason to carry $1 million in underinsured and uninsured motorist coverage on your car. As parents it's important you realize that while you have minor children at home you need to consider what risks of injury they experience and what those types of injuries can cost you. Parents are responsible for their children's medical care; that means if they need $500,000 in medical care it's you the parent who must pay. One dumb night of drinking and driving by the kids can cost the parents their life savings. Not because of what they did or didn't do but because another youngster or young adult wasn't thinking about the consequences of their actions. Take this case for example, what if your child were one of the passengers.

In a somewhat related story parents in Ankeny met at the town hall to focus attention on underage drinking. There are some pretty alarming statistics. Children in 6^th grade drink with 18% using alcohol in the last 30 days.  Studies show talking helps. Here is a quote from the KCCI article.

Statistics show 47 percent of parents had no involvement after finding out their children were drinking, but if parents talk to their children about the dangers, the incidence of alcohol use by the children dropped by 50 percent.