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.
“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.
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.
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.
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.
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).
Drunk driving is becoming a major killer. More people are killed by drunk drivers than by a gun. Many people in today’s society do not think about the dangers of driving drunk. If more people knew the statistics of driving drunk, how it affects them, and how others are affected, then they would not drive drunk.
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).
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.
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
In today’s world a DUIs can be classified as being under the influence on many different substances. The main and most deadly substance is actually the most legal. With more and more people dying every day this nation needs to open its eyes on the dangers of drunken driving and begin taking major steps to help prevent this awful trend come to a stop. Drunk driving is when a person consumes alcohol and tries to operate their vehicle while ossified. Today the legal limit is 0.08, but many people believed that it should be lowered or unacceptable to consume any alcohol while operating motor vehicles. Studies from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration shows that 40% of traffic deaths in United States were a result of DUIs. Many suggestions were made to avoid the change of the legal BAC level such as decreasing the amount of underage drinkers, writing more laws to keep heavy drinkers off the road, or adding...
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.
With thousands of reported deaths each year and countless injuries due to drivers who operate vehicles under the influence of alcohol it’s about time that we step in as a society and help with the problem. Education is the leading probable solution and with our help drivers can learn the dangers of operating a vehicle after consuming alcoholic beverages. Driving while intoxicated is a complicated matter with many negative results. The problems with drunk driving include repeat offenders and the amount of number of fatalities. With that being said, we could help solve this problem by personally getting involved, voting for those who want to force strict laws and punishments on drunk drivers, and utilizing new technology in society that will prevent those who frequently drive under the influence from endangering us on the roads.
The growing awareness of alcohol hazards has made people more cautious of their drinking habits, particularly young adults. At present young adults have the highest prevalence of alcohol consumption than any other age group. They also drink more heavily, experience more negative consequences, and engage in more harmful activities, specifically drunk driving. Although surveys have documented a decline in recent years, consumption rates remain highest from late teen years to the late twenties (Johnston1-3). Despite the long-term decline since 1982 in alcohol related traffic deaths, a 4 percent increase occurred between 1994 and 1995 among young adults age 21 and over (Hingson 4). As alcohol-impaired driving persists, legal and community initiatives intervene to help reduce the problem, as well as, continuing research on possible solutions.