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The effect of drinking and driving
Effects of alcohol misuse essay
The effect of drinking and driving
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Around 10,000 people die in Drunk driving accidents, while 200,000 are injured every year. That is about 28 people every day, put that in perspective? There are several other statistics just like these that people in the world are unaware of. Drinking irresponsibly is dangerous as it is, and if you add driving with it, that makes it worse. The society is unknowledgeable about how drunk driving affects mostly teenagers, how dangerous it is, and the long term effects. Car accidents are the leading cause of death for teenagers in the United States, and about 31% of teens admit to drinking. Young drivers are more likely to die in a car crash if they are under the influence of alcohol then adults are. Teens do not get enough information about the affects it can have on you. Many people ignore it and say, “Oh these are just statistics”, but there not they are true and tested facts that actually happen. Although, there are ways to lower these percentages and make for a better society. Parents should get involved in their teens lives. Some believe that raising the drinking age would help. The only real way to decrease these numbers is to take action yourself. If you do not do it, other people will follow. Dangerous, able or likely to cause harm or injury, which is exactly what drinking and driving is. Alcohol distorts a person’s vision, judgement, and …show more content…
When you drink and drive and are in a crash, you can kill someone, go to jail and even deal with disappointing loved ones. You have to live with the affects it does to your body and everyone around you. Driving while intoxicated gets you into a lot of long term troubles that no one wants to have to deal with. Also not only is drinking and driving a problem so is alcohol itself. Alcohol cause many health problems that do not just go away. Many people face these problems every day, and it’s our turn to let the world
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,...
Drunk driving accidents are the number one killer of adolescents (Teenagers and peer pressures. (n.d.). Retrieved November 1, 2013, from). Mixing drinking while driving can be deadly. Teenage drunk driving accidents not only affect the person drinking while driving, but it also can kill or harm others (Alcohol problems and solutions. (n.d.). Retrieved November 1, 2013, from) (Teen drinking and driving. (n.d.). Retrieved November 1, 2013, from) . Every single accident provoked by drinking and driving could have been prevented. If underage drinking is illegal, why do young people do it ? Teenagers usually are influenced by their elders (Alcohol problems and solutions. (n.d.). Retrieved November 1, 2013, from). In the United States, one out of ten 12 through 14 year olds have tried alcohol and continue to do so on a regular basis . There is a more than fifty percent of probability that young adults that have tried alcohol at a younger age may become alcoholics in the near future (Alcohol fatalities. (n.d.). Retrieved November 1, 2013, from). So, why do teenagers take so many risks with their health and behind the wheel? The answer is simple teen drivers tend to think they are invincible and more needs to be done to educate teens on the dangers of drinking and driving.
Each year, about 5,000 teens are killed or injured in traffic crashes as a result of underage drinking and about 1,900 are due to car accidents. (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and U.S. Department of Transportation) In the newsletter, safety in numbers by National highway traffic administration and U.S department of transportation “Of all the people who died in motor vehicle crashes during 2012, 31 percent died in crashes involving a drunk driver, and this percentage remains unchanged for the past 10 years” (Vol 1, 2013). Crashes involving alcohol include fatal crashes in which a driver had a BAC of .01 g/ ld. or higher (Underage Drinking Statistics)). Deadly crashes involving alcohol are twice as common in teens compared to people 21 and older. This is because teens’ judgment skills are harmed more by alcohol. Teens who drink not only risk hurting themselves, they risk hurting their friends, family, and even strangers when driving intoxicated. Teens and parents both need a strong reminder that underage drinking is illegal and can have disastrous consequences. According to Health Day News, “one study found that in 2011, 36 percent of U.S. college students said they'd gone binge drinking (five or more drinks in one sitting) within the past two weeks, as compared to 43 percent of college students in 1988. Since 2006, the current law has reduced the rate of drunk driving crashes among young Americans” (Preidt, 2014 and DeJong, 2014). This proves that lives have been saved after the legal drinking age increased. According to an article in Time Magazine called “Should the Drinking Age Be Lowered?”, “lowering the drinking age to 18 would stop infantilizing college students, but it would probably kill mor...
If one person decides to drive home drunk from a party then that person has a chance of getting into a head on collision with others. That choice to drive drunk has just endangered countless lives of innocent people on the road.
As you can see, drunk driving can cause many tragedies on a family or just the nation in general. Many people think that if we lower the Body Alcohol Content than there wouldn’t be as many people getting injured or killed a year. The question “Should tougher DUI laws be enacted?” is yet to be answered, but maybe in there next few years we will get an
...result in unnecessary and premature deaths, unsafe roadways, billions of dollars spent on taxpayers due to DUI’S, and losing a loved one. Drunken driving laws should be altered to be more efficient. Not everyone dies in a drunken driving accident. Think before you drink, you only have one life, make sure to make the right decisions.
Drunk driving happens when families gather at parties, games, or even away on vacations. Do not let a family member and friends stir in this terrible way, and help them decide better. Also, drunk driving does not just hurt the family member of the victim, but other families. “In 2013, 10,076 people were killed and approximately 290,000 were injured. Each crash, each death, each injury impacts not only the person in the crash, but family, friends, classmates, coworkers and more.” Just to imagine that even blows the minds of many people. Drunk driving is a problem that affects everyone, regardless of age or class. In the United States drunk driving is a threat to families, because poor low-income families lose their love ones in a driving accident involving alcohol; dead and gone forever to be here for their love ones, that person could have been their number one source of financial income for that family. In addition, individuals involved in a repeated drunk driving should not be able to purchase a car, for the safety of the communities. They’re one other frightful, ghastly story that happens to a close family friend who happens to be driving one night from school. She was driving home, when she realized a car popped in front of her, spinning around violently. In panic, she had no clue what to do since the road; she was traveling on was one way only. She sat there, her vision blurred, and she needed a plan to escape this horrifying moment, but her brain was in shock. As the car came closer, she closed her eyes, and that was the dreadful car crash that killed Cali in the summer of 2013. Although, Cali 's death could have been prevented if only the driver had not driven in a drunken state, because This did not only took the life of a loved one, but it 's left her two daughters motherless and no one to take care of since their dad was careless, and was not there for them. Couple days later child services took the kids to a
Drunk Driving is defined as: Operating a motor vehicle while one 's blood alcohol content is above the legal limit set by statute, which supposedly is the level at which a person cannot drive safely. State statutes define the legal limit to be between .08 and .10 depending on what state you’re in. Every 51 minutes in America, someone is killed in a drunk driving crash(MADD). That equates to 27 people every day. Which comes to a total of at least 9,855 deaths in a year. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 32% of fatal car crashes involve an intoxicated driver or pedestrian (MADD). As of right now, in society the total number of drunk driving accidents is slowly but surely increasing and if nothing is done about it, it’ll result in a tragic amount of deaths and injuries. Drunk drivers are extremely dangerous not just to oneself, but to society as well. That is why one serious solution to this societal epidemic is to create a portion of the driving test where drivers will be required to be at least ten beers deep and while drunk they must drive through a set of
Drunk driving is a problem that we hear about every day and it is something that effects everyone, but it only becomes real when it affects us directly. What we don’t know is when a problem like drunk driving will become “real” for us. Drunk driving is an issue that has taken a toll on our country and should be stopped. Drunk driving has been an increasing problem for many years. It effects not only the driver but all of society. The good thing is there are many ways the percentage of drunk drivers can be reduced. Although many people believe drunk driving doesn't affect them because they don't drink and drive, it is something that affects the whole community.
About five thousand teens die from underage drinking each year from suicide, drunk driving, etc. There are many different effects and causes of teens that start drinking. There is not enough attention to teens that drink and still there is a huge amount of teens still dying each year. Teenage Alcoholism is a huge problem, not in just the United States but all around the world. Stricter laws need to be enforced to lower the rates of teens dying and create a more safe and happy place for teens and adults.
The combination of driving an automobile after drinking a significant amount of alcohol has been recognized as a serious problem since the motor car was invented in the 1880s. By 1910, the law in the United States had already codified drunk driving as a misdemeanor offence. Prohibitionists used the danger created by mixing alcohol and driving as a key point in their argument in favor of the eighteenth amendment, as a result of which the sale, manufacture and transportation of alcohol was banned between 1920 and 1933. Apparently lessons were not learned and many decades later drunk driving has been called one of the most serious problems confronting America today” (Kinkade). This should not be a problem for any country as individuals should be able to control their drinking behavior.
...ring the legal drinking age would cause more car accident among young adults. Majority of the population require a personal care to transport. Most of the American kids learn how to drive at around the age of 16. Whether the legal drinking age is 18 or 21, alcohol-related traffic fatalities are a big issue in the states. In 2010, alcohol-impaired driving crashes killed 10,228 people, accounting for 31% of all traffic-related deaths in the United States. What would it be when more young people are going to drink after lowering the legal drinking age? According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 2,121 people in 2006 ages 16 to 20 died in alcohol-related fatalities on U.S. roads, but in 1984, the figure was 4,612. By the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimation, about 800 lives are saved a year when raising the drinking age to 21.
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
It is thought that drunk drivers have a long history of doing this and many prior arrests. In addition, most of those killed are just innocent victims whose behavior did not contibute to their deaths. These last two statements are both false. On aver age a drunk driver that kills has never been involved in a alcohol related accident before and have no proir convictions for drunk driving. The part about the people killed are just innocent bistanders is overaggerated also. Most of the drunk drivers v ictims are the drivers themselves, their often passengers, and the drunken pedestrains and cyclists. Despite this drunk driving is still very dangerous. It is the leading cause of unintentional injury deaths in America today. In fact it is said that ab out 40 % of the population will be involved in a alcohol related crash during their life. Drunk driving is especially dangerous to young people, who seem to be more involved than others. Drunk driving is the number one cause of death among young people, accounting for 20% of all deaths from ages 15 to 20. Drunk driving is such a hard thing to overcome though. In our society alcolol is overwhelmingly accepted as a facilitator of sociable interaction, and the great majority of adults drink. But steps a re being taken and the numbers of deaths are declining.
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