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Effect of drunk driving
Effect of drunk driving
Effect of drunk driving
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Drinking and driving is against the law. Whether you have had one beer or two, whether you feel it or not it is still illegal in all fifty states to drink and get behind the wheel. In the state of California the legal blood alcohol concentration or BAC is 0.08 percent. The legal drinking age for the state of California is twenty-one and over. Many people do not take drinking and driving serious until it is way too late. Drinking and driving can and will cost you your freedom, finances and future; as well as other people on the road. Twenty-one is the legal drinking age so it doesn’t matter if you are under twenty-one and been to war or have had a baby it is still illegal to drink and drive. It is even illegal to have beer, wine, or and alcohol beverage in the car with you if you are under twenty-one and there is nobody twenty-one and older in the car with you. The blood alcohol concentration level for persons under the age of twenty-one is 0.01 percent. If you are under eighteen then you may not have a blood alcohol concentration level while driving. Repeated offenders may not have a blood alcohol concentration level of 0.01 or higher. Many people want to know how many beers it takes to reach the legal limit before driving. It is hard to determine. It all depends on the gender, fat percentage, and weight. (California DUI) So the best way to determine is to not drink at all if you know you have to drive. For the state of California there are various consequences for multiple offenses. In my opinion I believe that there are second chances to a certain extent. But when it comes to taking your life as well as others then there shouldn’t be any second chance for DUI offenders. If caught more than once then that should be it. Unfor... ... middle of paper ... ...do whatever it is that you need to do to stop them from driving. It shouldn’t matter if they get mad or cause some drama over it because in the long run they will thank you for being such a good friend. Just remember drinking and driving can and will cost you your freedom, finances, and future. Works Cited "California DUI | DWI Drunk Driving Laws, Penalties, Fines & SR22." DUI Laws |Drunk Driving|Penalties|Fines|SR22 Insurance|State Law. Web. 22 June 2010. . Denny, Samantha. “How Much is Too Much.” Questionnaire. Fresno: Heald College, 2010. "Driving Under-the-Influence." ADP. Oct. 2009. Web. 22 June 2010. . "Drunk Driving Research." Fighting Drunk Driving & Underage Drinking | The Century Council. Web. 22 June 2010. .
In the United States of America the drinking age is 21 which was instituted with the National Minimum Drinking Age Act was passed on July 17, 1984. Before 1984 the national drinking age was 18. This is the age when U.S citizens are considered legal adults at the age of eighteen I could hypothetically go out vote, get married, join the army and buy a lottery ticket all in one day. On this same day I could also get caught driving while intoxicated, and then be arrested and tried as an adult in the court of
Hingson, Ralph. "Prevention of Drinking and Driving." Alcohol Research & Health. Winter 1996-1997: 219-226. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 22 Feb. 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,...
9.) 2014 Illinois DUI Fact Book. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Illinois Secretary of State. Web. .
“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.
Now it is simply an opinion that tightening restrictions and increasing visibility enforcement will lower the number of drunk driving accidents and deaths. The legal age to consume alcohol in our nation, the United States of America, is 21 years of age; although, it was previously allowed at the age of 18, when one is accepted into adulthood. The National Minimum Drinking Age is imposed in every state that allows persons under 21 years of age to purchase and publicly possess alcoholic beverages.
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...
In fact, the state and federal laws for consuming alcohol are different. “The federal law requires states to prohibit purchase and public possession of alcoholic beverages [for people under the age of 21]. Contrary to belief, it does not require prohibition of minors from drinking alcoholic beverages” (Minimum). This means that the severity of restrictions depend on what state you live in. For example, residents of Missouri have some of the most lax alcohol consumption laws in the country. It is one of six states that allow parents and guardians to provide alcohol to their children (Missouri). However, the lucky Kansans out there have it a little differently. Kansas’ law states that no one under the age of 21 can “possess, consume, obtain, purchase, or attempt to obtain or purchase alcoholic liquor” (Kansas).
In an attempt to combat the issue of DUIs, a national minimum BAC level of 0.02 has also been set for drivers under age twenty one and has reportedly saved hundreds of lives for drivers between the ages of eighteen to twenty years. Educational programs in schools and communities focused on the advantages of using “designated drivers” as well as public education and lobbying groups; such as Mothers against Drunk Driving (MADD) and Students Against Drunk Driving (SADD) have also yielded positive effects in the reduction of DUIs (Levinthal, 2011).
Legal drinking age varies by many countries. In U.S.A, There has been a lot of debate when it comes to the legal drinking age here in US. When it comes to law. There is always an opinion, some are for it and some are against. When it comes to the legal drinking age being 21 we are totally against it. Many people still say the government should prohibit using alcoholic drinks at the age of 18. Legal adults deserve to be treated as such it is time the arbitrary drinking age of 21 Was lowered to 18, because there is no evidence that the National Minimum Drinking Age Act is effective or protects the people it is intended to protect . The Notional Minimum Drinking Age Act was passed in 1984 in an attempt to decrease the number of drunk driving related accidents. The act threatens to decrease a state’s budget for high way construction and maintenance if it sets its drinking age under 21. According to Cuccoli , “ Keeping the drinking age at such a low age is leading to more cases of binge drinking,” (Cuccoli). Mothers against drunk driving reports that the number of alcohol related fatalities involving a vehicle decreased from 26, 173 to 16, 885 between 1982 and 2005.
Driving under the influence is measured by a person’s blood alcohol level (BAC). BAC is determined by the concentration of alcohol in the bloodstream. Individual counties and states have their own legal level on blood alcohol percentages that they measure a person’s BAC to determine if they are intoxicated while behind the wheel. “Everywhere in the United States it is illegal to drive with a BAC of 0.08% or higher” (DUI Foundation).
They are never going to be able to reclaim their normal life, while the offenders after a few days in prison are released and put on probation. Situations such as this begs to ask a question of fairness and justice. The penalties for a DUI in Texas are insufficient and need to be changed. A person with a first offense of a DUI gets a minimum of 3 to 180 days’ jail time and up to $2,000 in fines and penalties and requires no use of an interlock ignition device. South Dakota’s DUI penalties include no minimum jail time or fine for a first or second offense, no administrative license suspension, and no ignition interlock requirement. It had the number one fatality rate from 1995-2013 and the number nine rate for 2013 alone. Nevertheless, there are still far too many people dying each year because intoxicated people get behind the wheel. Many people believe that changing the law for a DUI would not help, that drinking is uncontrolled and one of the toughest addictions to break, bars will remain open, and stores will continue to sell beer. If it was you or your loved one that died as a result of someone else 's driving drunk, would you still feel the same way? Would you still think that the laws shouldn’t change? Driving is a privilege and a responsibility. Drivers should always take this responsibility to heart before getting behind the wheel of an automobile. They should think about the pedestrians walking along the
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.
Wald, Matthew L. "A New Strategy to Discourage Driving Drunk." New York Times, Late Edition (East Coast) ed.: 0. Nov 20 2006. ProQuest. Web. 3 Apr. 2014.
Many people in the United States enjoy a drink of their favorite alcoholic beverage. It could be a nice ice cold beer after a hard day of work or going to the bar and enjoying a few shots or mixed drinks with friends. Drinking alcohol is a common way to mingle with friends and take the edge off a difficult day. However, there are dangers involved with alcohol since it does dampen the body’s ability to cope with new information. Alcohol becomes a poison to the body when consumed in large quantities. The biggest danger is not to the driver after they become inebriated, but comes to anyone the drunk driver comes in contact with. A sober person can be dangerous just by being distracted, but a drunk driver’s ability to cope with changing situations and distractions is one of the biggest hazards on today’s roads. Some individuals believe that they are not as impaired as what they are led to believe from government ads and the many videos that show what can happen to someone who is drinking and driving. Although, there are many policies in place to advocate against drunk driving, there are those who would endanger themselves and others with their thoughtless actions when they jump into the driver’s seat of a vehicle. Drinking and driving should never be combined because a person who has been drinking does not have the ability to use all mental faculties unimpaired, many people have been killed, injured, or psychologically hurt by a drunk driver, many men and women do not know the difference weight and gender have on the body’s ability to process alcohol, and the financial and legal trouble that is awaiting for those convicted by a DUI.