Driving under influence or with high blood alcohol content (BAC) increases the risk of car accidents, vehicular deaths, and more so highway injuries across all age-groups. In fact, an intoxicated driver with relatively higher BAC increases his/her risk of death by up to 380 times in single-vehicle crash (DeMichele, Lowe & Payne, 2014). Drunk driving is often considered as the largest social problem in the modern day society since 40 to 45% of all fatal traffic accidents usually involve drunk drivers. While 16 is the average blood alcohol content among some seriously injured drinking drivers, the culture of driving under influence can only be stopped through the development of a plausible plan to prevent it (Sloan, Eldred & Xu, 2014).
Do you know how many people die every day in the United States due to drunk driving? If not, here is the answer, approximately twenty-eight people die because of drunk driving. There is not a day that has gone by without having an auto accident relating intoxicated drivers and no days without an ambulance running on the street with emergency lights on chasing for victims. In 2014, 1.1 million drivers were arrested for driving under the influence and 9,967 people were killed in alcohol related crashes. Alcohol slows down the activity of the person’s central nervous system, including the brain which makes them react slower and reduce concentration while driving. In order for one to drive safe, he/she has to be sober and active without any distraction.
Drunk Driving
Almost every adult you encounter can say they have been drunk or slightly intoxicated some point throughout their life, but how many can admit to drunk driving. The use of alcohol when driving is completely frivolous and endangers the lives of others that share the road or is even a passenger in the vehicle. Penalties for DUIs should be harsher as if it was attempted murder or drug use. With the slightest mistake or misjudgment can cost you your own life or the life of someone else.
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.
Drunk driving is an issue that effects many people across our nation. People do not realize the affects alcohol can have on the body and mind that slow decision making while driving. This issue begins in the home. Children see their parents, or other adults figures, have a beer or a cocktail and get in the car. Thus, making it seem like it is acceptable to drink and drive. “One in three people will be involved in an alcohol-related crash in their lifetime” (MADD).
Many people have lost loved ones as a result of drunk driving. Alcohol related motor vehicle accidents are one of the main causes of death, especially with teenagers. After drinking alcohol, a person’s perception and judgement become distorted and they may feel overconfident and take chances they’d never take if sober. Alcohol affects the body by impairing vision, slowing down reaction time, and making the body feel more relaxed and drowsy. People think that they can be careful when they drive drunk and that they’ll make it home safely, however, consuming alcohol makes the task almost impossible. Although drunk driving is more common in the youth, drinking is dangerous for everyone, particularly if they aren’t completely educated on the risks.
Driving can be dangerous in the U.S. There are roughly two deaths every thirty-three minutes because of a drunk driving accident. Every 90 seconds, someone is injured because of this entirely preventable crime (MADD, par. 2). Drunk driving is the United State’s number one highway safety concern (MADD, par. 2). Driving under the influence has an arrest rate of one for every 123 licensed drivers in America. (NHTS) These accidents are much too common. Drivers were intoxicated in 41 percent of all fatal pedestrian crashes according to reports done by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
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).
A lot of drivers that have alcohol in their blood don’t appear this way. Statistics have shown that even the tiniest amount of alcohol can influence the way you drive. As more people understand the many behaviors that can become aggressive and see their own behavior, they can become adapted to safer driving practices and manage risk more effectively. Many people believe that drinking and driving or texting and driving is okay if nobody gets hurt, well they’re wrong. Almost every time an accident happens that involves alcohol or dangerously using the phone, somebody gets hurt, and I am wanting to prove my statement.
“Every year, in the United States about 600,000 and ten percent-of all motor vehicle crashes recorded by police department are all due to consumption of alcohol.” In 2003; 42,643 fatalities were caused by vehicle crashes. Of those, 17,013 (40 percent) were alcohol related. The majority people with DUI’s are not alcoholics. “Beer drinking causes about 80 percent of alcohol-related fatalities.” A crash is alcohol related if any driver, pedestrian or passenger involved has any trace of alcohol or there is suspicion of alcohol usage. As the cases of drunk driving quickly increase over a period of time as one of the fast developing public problem, more definite and stricter regulations should be emphasized on books and in the academic world to control such recurring drunk driving offenses.