The Troubles with Drinking and Driving There is knocking at a door late at night, and there a policeman standing at the door with information that a family member was in an accident that involved a drunk driver. This is one of those things people hear and believe that it will not happen, but it happens every day. Every 40 minutes, someone in the U.S. is killed by a drunk driver and in 2008, in Montana, 40 percent of all traffic fatalities involved DUIs (“Drunk Driving” 1). Drunk Driving affects everyone and people in Montana should look at what other states do to find ways to make the laws tougher and more enforced. In other states, laws for drunk driving do help their roads to be safer. Montana should follow suit with the laws in …show more content…
Montana needs safer drivers, on the roads that connect us to the places that we need to go. If a driver is not responsible, then all drivers are at risk. When a person is driving, their life and their passenger’s lives are in their hands. Families on both sides of a drunk driving accident experience consequences. This is why Montana needs stricter laws. On one side when the victim is a parent, children will have to grow up without that parent and family unit. On the other side, the drunk driver’s family is also victimized because he/she is incarcerated, costing them more than a loss of a vehicle. If the driver is the breadwinner of that family, then a paycheck is gone. Money is tighter now more than ever in these families. Stricter laws could prevent this. Insurance costs also go up for both the families. "You Drink & Drive. You Lose" and "Friends Don’t Let Friends Drive Drunk” ("Impaired Driving...” 1). These statements are factual and the words of these statements make people think more about their part in preventing drunk driving. The people drinking and driving are not only playing Russian roulette with their own lives; they are playing with other driver’s lives. Montana can fix these problems as a State if it works together to pass better laws for drunk
I think that it is agreed by all parties that the prodigious number of sober drivers in our neighborhoods, city streets, and country roads is at present deplorable to the state of our great nation. Currently, a whopping ninety-eight percent of Americans of driving age feel threatened by those who drive under the influence of alcohol, which means that only two percent of Americans are able to fully relax and enjoy themselves while on the road, and with the growing awareness, this number could be on the rise (MADD Online: General Statistics 1). What a travesty! All drivers, and passengers alike, should be put at the same risk for danger, be it damage, injury, or death.
According to the article, "State Estimates of Drunk and Drugged Driving," from 2006 to 2009, Oregon was named one of the top ten states to have highest rates in drugged driving. Statistics also show that every 22 minutes someone dies from an alcohol related auto accident. If Oregon police departments had the right to conduct sobriety checkpoints many tragedies could be prevented. It has been proven that driving under the influence impairs the driver’s ability to make the right decisions and that’s why these tragedies occur. It has also been proven th...
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
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 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.
Over the last several years the dangers of driving while intoxicated have increased and have become a serious threat to this nation. Although, men are considered the main perpetrators of DUIs recently women, young adults, and even teenagers have been pulled over and arrested for being intoxicated while operating a vehicle. Many groups and organizations have been formed in an attempt to keep drunk drivers off the roads. Laws have been passed and are constantly changing in an attempt to cut down the number of DUIs and deaths. With new technology in production and automakers adding more safety features to their cars the war against drunken driving is still going on. Therefore, as a result of the increase due to drinking and driving, it is essential that tougher laws are enacted.
Thus having a mandatory jail term system will significantly help to take the stance of “ZERO TOLERANCE” for individuals who believe that they can do as they please and drive while under the influence. Enough is enough and before any more innocent lives are lost, before any more property is carelessly destroyed, a stance must be taken to eradicate the disease called DUI.
“Drink the first. Sip the second slowly. Skip the third. The speedway ends at the cemetery” (Rockne). Every day, almost 30 people in the United States die in motor vehicle crashes that involve an alcohol-impaired driver. This amounts to one death every 48 minutes. The annual cost of alcohol related crashes totals more than 51 billion. In Recent discussions of drunk driving, a controversial issue has been whether the driving while intoxicated laws should be increased due to the amount tax payers are paying for drunk driving crashes. On the one hand. Some argue that the driving laws for driving drunk should remain the same and not change. From this perspective the laws about driving under the influence should greatly increase to be stricter, this will help decrease the death rate per year in the United States. On the other hand, however others argue that the laws about driving while drunk are already too strict and should remain unchanged. In sum, then, the issue is whether the laws about driving drunk should be greatly increased to be more effective, or remain unchanged. Because drunk driving can result in unnecessary and premature deaths, unsafe roadways, billions of dollars spent on taxpayers due to DUI’S, and losing a loved one. Drunk driving laws should be altered to be more efficient.
The continuous rate of drunken driving deaths makes a case that the united States drunk driving laws are too lenient and makes a call for stricter laws. There is a need for the United States to improve on their drunk driving penalties just the way the other country’s have done and this is giving them a reduced rate of drunk driving death. The United States can’t go on like this. There is a need for stricter laws to be introduced as the United States.
Young drivers (ages 16-20) are 17 times more likely to die in a crash when they have a blood alcohol concentration of .08% than when they have not been drinking. (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) With that being said, it goes to show that teens already cannot handle drinking and how much problems that have are already came about and will prolong about unless the law stay the same. Good amount of families and friends have already lost their children due to countless of fatal car crashes being under the influence and alcohol abuse from consuming too much. One night, Reggie Stephey 18 years young, he was driving home and he had been drinking. Less than a mile from his driveway, Reggie drifted across the center stripe and hitting Natalia Bennett head on also heading home from a birthday party in Austin, with 4 other passengers Natalia Bennett and her Laura Guerrero died at the scene. It was a little past 4:00 in the morning on Sunday, September 19, 1999. ) Instantly like that someone can lose his or her life just for not making such and irresponsible choice. We need to prevent things from happening like this some because it is not getting any
There have been many cases in Fresno, CA where people are dying because of a driving under intoxicated (DUI) accident. People who drive drunk not only put their own lives in danger; they also put other drivers including passengers and pedestrian in danger as well. Lawmakers must not allow any DUI cases a second chance at all. Every citizen could save more lives by avoiding any dangerous and deadly accidents that a DUI defendant can cause. By making the law much more strict maybe people will think twice before they drink and drive. DUI drivers should be fine heavily the first time, thrown in jail, revoke their license and attend meetings. Everybody’s lives are very precious and it should not end because of a driver who is under the influence of any substances.
People are careless and carefree, they don 't think of others when they drink and drive they only convince themselves that they are fine. All the facts and pictures of gruesome drunk driving crashes couldn 't change their mind about it, but something must be done. We can’t allow people to go out and drink so much that they leave and get behind a wheel. People need to understand that if they see someone who is too drunk to drive that they need to stop them. I believe everyone should have a designated driver, and I know it seems lame to be that person, but instead of seeing it as lame see it as being the hero. You and only you can save someone from making a mistake like drinking and driving, don 't let your friend do it and don 't let yourself do it. My mom always tells me “be better than your mother” when she does something I don 't approve of, maybe we all need to be better. Don 't let anyone grow up partly empty because someone they loved has been taken from them. No one deserves to not remember the name of their grandparents because they died too young like I do. One decision could destroy yours or someone else 's life forever. A heart is as fragile as a car, one hit and it
Drunk driving must be stopped, it hurts many people in different ways. There are countless accidents in which the drivers and passengers of vehicles have been killed or very badly injured by drunk drivers. One way that drunk drivers affect the lives of people is that they put everyone on the road around them in danger. Another way that drunk drivers affect people is that they impact the lives of anyone they hurt drastically. The last way that drunk drivers affect people’s lives is that they damage cars and property.
Among persons under 21, drunk driving fatalities have decreased 80%. Despite this progress, we still have more work to do, and our commitment to eliminate drunk driving is stronger than ever. Hardcore drunk drivers continue to wreak havoc on our nation’s road accounting for 70% of drunk driving fatalities, where there is a known alcohol-test result for the driver – a trend that has remained relatively unchanged for more than a decade. In 2016, the rate of alcohol-impaired driving fatalities per 100,000 population was 3.3, representing a 65% decrease since 1982, when record keeping began, and a 49% decrease since the inception of The Foundation for Advancing Alcohol Responsibility in 1991. There are many reasons why you shouldn’t drink and drive. You could lose your license, you could lose your job, you can face hefty penalties for the crime you committed, your arrest will become public knowledge and you may be forced to live with guilt. Mothers Against Drunk Driving (or MADD) and the president, Colleen Sheehey-Church, have been trying to prevent drunk driving since 1980. Colleen Sheehey-Church joined MADD in 2005, a year after her 18-year-old son Dustin drowned after the car he was riding in, driven by a teen with alcohol and drugs in her system, crashed into a river, trapping Dustin in the vehicle. As MADD’s national spokesperson and
When someone makes the decision to consume alcoholic beverages, it should go without saying that they should also be choosing to be a responsible drinker. Being a responsible drinker means not consuming more alcohol than their body can handle and more importantly, not getting behind the wheel of any type of vehicle after drinking. In an article written by high school student Steven Engler, he says it well; “If you choose to use it, do it responsibly, and don’t put anyone’s life in danger, including your own.” (New York Times, 2003) No matter the person’s age or the type of alcohol consumed, alcohol lowers a person’s inhibitions and ability to think clearly, while also increasing their chances of engaging in risky activities. It is possible for a person to have a few drinks, relax and have a good time however, all too often people overdo it and end up making bad decisions that they most often regret. Many times, the worst of these decisions is convincing themselves that they are “fine” and what they drank will not impair their driving. Some may say that these individuals simply “made a mistake.” Yes, everyone does make mistakes however, driving while intoxicated is not a mistake that affects only them, it is something that affects and risks the lives of many people and themselves. The sad thing is that drunk driving is one hundred percent preventable and therefore the loss of lives due to the recklessness of drinking and driving is preventable as well. Mr. Bloomberg hit the nail on the head when he said “Simply put, drunk driving is selfish, criminal and it kills, and we are not going to tolerate it.” (New York Times, 2002) Drinking and driving is a selfish act made by a person who seemingly does not care about the people around th...