How many times have you made it home safe while drinking and driving? If you say anything higher than one, you got lucky. Hopefully you have never tried. On average someone dies every 53 minutes from an alcohol related accident (2011 Drunk Driving statistics). Alcohol consumption impairs all of your abilities in many ways when it comes to alertness, judgment, comprehension, quick thinking, and reflexes that are extremely important while a person is driving (Bose). Driving under the influence causes about 1,800 alcohol related accidents each year in the US (Bose). That is why it is illegal to drive under the influence in all of North America and Puerto Rico. A car crash is considered “alcohol-related” if at least one driver or pedestrian involved in the crash has a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of .01 gram per deciliter (g/dL) or higher (2011 Drunk Driving statistics). My readers will learn about Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC), death statistics, laws related to driving under the influence, and how police can know for sure if someone has been drinking.
Law enforcement uses something called Blood Alcohol Concentration or BAC to know how much a person has had to drink. Police use a device called a Breathalyzer to measure the amount of alcohol in your system. When you blow into it, it uses your breath to measure the alcohol amount. This device measures the percentage of alcohol, in deciliters, in your blood. In all states in the US and Puerto Rico it is illegal to drive with a BAC higher than 0.08 g/dL (Bose). On average a drunk driver with a higher than .08 g/dL BAC is about 325 times more likely, than a sober driver, to be in an accident. There is more than just one factor that takes place when it comes to the amount of alco...
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...runk, they are not only risking their own life; they are risking the lives of everyone around them, every single driver and every single pedestrian. Everyone should think about that the next time they get into their car while drunk. A designated driver is always the best way to go.
Works Cited
“2011 Drunk Driving Statistics.” alcoholalert. 2014 Web. 11 Feb 2014.
Bose, Debopriva “Drinking and Driving Facts: Drunk Driving Fact Sheet.” buzzle. 26
Sept 2011 Web. 11 Feb 2014.
FreeAdvance staff, “If I'm pulled over, what types of DUI roadside tests can the officer ask me to perform?” Advice Company. 1995-2014 Web. 4 May 2014.
Kotb, Hoda “The Worst Kind Of Drunk Drivers.” nbcnews. 9 July 2014 Web. 11 Feb
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Stim, Rich “South Carolina DUI Laws, Fines, and Penalties.” drivinglaws. Web. 15 Feb
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Zador “Alcohol (BAC, Gender, etc.).” aaa. Web. 23 March 2014
The facts are plain and simple, that alcohol and driving do not mix. About three in every ten Americans will be involved in an alcohol related crash at some time in their lives. Every single injury and death caused by drunk driving is totally preventable. To curb this national travesty, concerned Americans need to examine the problems, the effects, and the solutions to drunk driving. First of all, America has had a problem with drunk driving since Ford perfected the assembly line. Alcoholism is a problem in and of itself, but combined with driving can have a wide range of effects. The consequences of this reckless behavior can include a first time DUI or licenses suspension; a small fender bender, or worst of all a deadly crash. Most drivers that have only one or two drinks feel fine, and assume they are in control, which is irresponsible and dangerous. Alcohol is a depressant that slows down the body's ability to react and impairs judgment. To drive well, you need to be able to have a quick reaction time to avoid accidents. Unfortunately, people continue to drink and drive. However,...
Driving is a privilege Americans have been afforded since the invention of the automobile in the late 1800’s. Yet with great power comes great responsibility. One of the responsibilities associated with being able to drive several tons of metal at high speeds is the responsibility of doing so without any distractions or impairments. Choosing to drive drunk puts not only the driver in danger, but also everyone else in the car and on the road. Currently, the average drunk driver will drive eighty times before getting caught by the police (1). On average, one third of all people will be involved in a drunk driving accident during the course of their lifetimes (7). Whereas driving drunk once can be seen as a mistake and a one-time lapse in judgment, choosing to recklessly ignore the law and the safety of others is a serious offense against society. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports that one in three persons arrested for drunk driving are repeat offenders (2).
If you limit the BAC of 0.05% its drops two drinks or less for small people and three for larger people. If a person’s Body Alcohol Content is 0.05%, it’s about 38% more likely for that person to crash than being sober and the driver’s level is 0.08% is about 169% more likely. On average every hour one person is killed and twenty people are injured. “Crushes have decreased by 50% between 1983 which was 21,113 to 2011 which was 9,878” (Brown).
Lets say you’re going to a party well if you know or think your gunna drink bring a designated driver ,or tell someone to pick you up. Also when you do that many lives are save . Why not called a taxi also there’s many of them .Or don't drink at all ,if you drink and drive you will get a DUI . Drinking only 2 or 3 still does ...
Drunk driving has been an increasing problem for many years. One issue that contributes to this is that in the United States it is actually legal to drive with a certain alcohol percentage. The blood alcohol limit is 0.8 percent (Drunk Driving). This means that a person may drive legally as long as they have a blood alcohol percentage of 0.8 percent or under. However, even at a percentage of 0.3 there may be some impairment of alertness and concentration (Drunk Driving). Driving requires fast reflexes that may be impaired at a 0.5 percent blood alcohol level but a person with this level of intoxication is not legally drinking and driving. Many people are arrested for drunk driving. In 2009, more than 1.4 million drivers were arrested for driving while under the influence (Drunk Driving). In addition, “an average drunk driver has driven drunk 80 times before their first arrest” (Get Involved). Therefore, there were a minimum of 112 million accounts of drunk driving in 2009 alone. Drunk drivers also cause an increasing number of deaths. Drunk drivers in the United States c...
Driving while drunk is one of the very dangerous things in the life of a driver. Drivers who work under high Blood Alcohol Concentration also known as (BAC) usually expressed as a percentage of ethanol in the blood consisting of alcohol per volume of blood or alternatively mass of alcohol per mass of blood. These drivers are at a great increase of car risk accidents, vehicular deaths as well as highway risks. Drinking under the Influence commonly known as DUI simply refers to driving a motor vehicle while one has level of alcohol in their blood exceeding the legal limit. This is not limited to alcoholic content but covers other drugs that include but are not limited to prescription drugs. This leads the driver to lack coordination, experience double vision, brief blackouts and have a slurred speech. Driving under the influence causes brain impairment leading to a person feeling that they can manage a situation just like they have always handled it before. This is always as a result of poor reasoning and judgment which leaves one vulnerable to the deadly effects of drunk driving.
Given the highly disproportionate role that these people play in drunk driving incidents, injuries, and fatalities, it would be wise to put our focus on them. The chronic drunk drivers comprise only a small percentage of all the drivers, yet they cause the most accidents.
Drunk driving is a completely needless crime due to it not being obligatory and completely recreational. According to the DMV, every 53 minutes, someone is killed by a drunk driver and every 90 seconds, someone is injured. That totals to about 350k people affected physically by someone driving under influence. That also doesn’t include the families affected by the fatalities or injuries. Almost one out of every three traffic deaths involves drunk driving and one in three people will be involved in a drunken driving crash in their lifetime. Some may believe that driving “tipsy” is not as ba...
Law enforcements around the US have worked extremely hard to prevent drinking and driving. Checkpoints were established to help prevent DUIs. In Sedalia, for example, mostly they are on “big nights” such as prom, Fourth of July, and graduation. A DUI checkpoint is when police officers block the road with barriers or vehicles. Before being a loud to go through the checkpoint, the driver must have a conversation with the officer and present his or her driver’s license. If the driver is shown to have signs of drinking alcohol, the officer can give the driver a sobriety test or a Breathalyzer.
It is a tragic truth: About 10,000 lives are lost in the United States because of drunk driving each year. Alcohol is wildly known as one of the main reasons of causing social security issue. Small amount can make people feel relaxed, but bigger amount could make them loss their coordination, get feeling of confusion and disorientation, and significantly slowed their reaction time. On average, one person dies every hour because of alcoholic traffic accident in United State. Therefore, the NTSB put out a recommendation last May that the legal blood alcohol content (BAC) level for drivers should be lowered from the current level of .08% to .05%. But for several reasons, we shouldn’t lower the criterion on blood alcohol content.
Drunk driving is when an individual drives a vehicle with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) level over the legaly permited limit. Driving under the influence of alcohol is a major health problem in the United States as it accounts for a high number of road fatalities; hence, there is a need for stricter drunk driving rules in the United States in order to reduce drunken driving fatalities.
For many years, drunk driving casualties have been viewed differently. Many believe that drunk driving laws are strict while others believe that it is too lenient. In this generations, where alcohol is cheap and very accessible many tends to abuse it. This people who abuse alcohol is known as drunk drivers because after taking three or four drinks they still believe that they are not drunk and goes back to the wheel of their vehicle without thinking of what will happen next. This drunk drivers are willing to risk their lives and the lives of others because they are ashamed or too big to call a family member or a designated drivers to take them home. If they are lucky and did not die on their way home. Then they create this dangerous cycle of
Driving under the influence is one of the most common and dangerous situations in which anyone can be or be placed. Drinking and driving is a serious offence that can cause someone to be physically harm or even killed. Not only are you putting yourself at risk but you are also risking the lives of passengers in the car as well as any other car and occupants sharing the road with you. Many people believe that increasing fines for drunk driving offenders will play a compelling role in cutting down the occurrences of driving under the influence. However, while harsher DUI laws will look effective on paper, they will not make a significant step in the fight against drunk driving. Although there is a law enforced for drinking and driving in the
Specific factors that pertain to this fatal problem are blood alcohol content (BAC), failure to wear seatbelts, and inexperienced driving. Of all these, the blood alcohol content or BAC level causes the most risk to young adults¡¯ drinking and driving. National research comparing BAC of drivers in single-vehicle crashes with that of drivers not in crashes reveals that each .02% increase in content level nearly doubles the risk of fatal crash involvement. For drivers under age 21, the risk increases more rapidly with each drink consumed (Hingson 52).
Drunk driving is extremely impactful on the lives of you and others. While drinking and driving, you are not just endangering yourself, you are also endangering the lives of others. The driver of the car does not just control the car with their hands and feet. They need their brain to function properly so that you are able to react to objects on the road quicker and control the car. If you drink then drive/ drink while driving. Alcohol affects your brain in many ways that inhibit your ability to drive. Alcohol will affect your reaction time, it slows your reflexes which decrease your ability to react to objects on the road. It affects your vision, in can impair your color perception, and night vision. It slows down the movement in the muscles in your eye causing your visual perception to change. Alcohol affects your ability to track. You will not be able to judge the position of cars ahead of you, you won’t be able to judge the