Cdc's Mortality And Mortality Summary

Drinking and driving is said to be the primary contributor to automotive related deaths. “By law, a driver is considered to be impaired by alcohol if his or her blood alcohol content is 0.08 percent or higher” (Holzmueller). As a matter of fact, “in 2010, about 86 percent of all fatalities alcohol-involved crashes were in cases where a driver or pedestrian had a BAC of .08 or higher” (“The Economic and Societal Impact of Motor Vehicle Crashes, 2010” 147). Laws and penalties have been created and applied in recent years that make it more difficult to get away with drinking and driving. If drivers are charged with alcohol-impaired driving, “they face suspension or revocation of their license” (Holzmueller).

The thought of alcohol being involved in fatal crashes brings about an emotional response. Recently, there has been a movement based on emotion rather than logic to change a certain drinking and driving law. This involves lowering the Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) from 0.10% to 0.08% nationwide. However, this attention is misdirected. By looking at my personal experiences, statistics, and current laws, it is clear that there is no need for lowering the BAC.

Alcohol-impaired driving fatalities were 1,028 in 2008 for the state of California (Century Council). Of those deaths, 68% of the drivers were considered “Hardcore Drunk Drivers”; drivers who had a BAC level of 0.15+ (Century Council). Unfortunately, the drivers who got behind the wheel of those vehicles now have to deal with the fact that they slaughtered a person(s), because they made the choice to drive their car when they knew they had consumed alcohol.

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

People like to go to parties and have fun all the time and what’s a party without alcohol, right? The problem with drinking at parties, however, is that many don’t know that they have become drunk and end up driving around after they leave the party. Drunk driving is dangerous and those driving that have high blood alcohol content or concentration (BAC) increases their risk of causing or being a part of accidents such as vehicle crashes or highway injuries (“Driving,” n.d.). The article “About Drunk Driving” (n.d.) states that every 53 minutes on average, someone is killed in a drunken driving crash and every 90 seconds, someone is injured.

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

Driving under the influence of alcohol is “one of Americas most often committed and deadliest crimes” (). A financial burden on society, motor vehicle crashes cost the United States an estimate of $37 billion annually (). Impaired driving continues to amplify in the United States, in addition to this, prevention laws differ from state to state. An increase in traffic accidents correlates to alcohol, moreover, “Alcohol-impairment is a factor in nearly one-third of all fatalities” (). The Governors Highway Safety Association (2016) examines the issues of impaired driving and the methods use to prevent and decrease DUIs.

In 2013, 10,076 people were killed in drunk driving incidents. Out of those people, 65% (6,515) were drivers, 27% (2,724) were passengers, and 8% (837) were non-passengers (“Drunk Driving Statistics”). Over half of those fatalities (67.1%) involved blood alcohol levels over .15% (“Drunk Driving Statistics”). The legal blood-alcohol content is .08%. Drunk driving caused 31% of deaths in car crashes in 2013 (“Drunk Driving Statistics”). In 2012, 402 people were killed by alcohol impairment in North Carolina (“Drunk Driving Statistics”). These numbers, though they seem astonishing, have been cut in half since 1991 (“Drunk Driving Statistics”). Even though the number of fatalities has been lowered, that number is not low enough. Most drunk drivers are repeat offenders. Lives are being taken because of the careless attitude of the drunk drivers. Drunk driving is selfish; those who commit this crime do not think about the extreme consequences of their actions. In North America it is estimated that 1-5 drivers has been drinking and 1 in 10 is legally impaired on any Friday or Saturday night (Root). Many groups, including MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving), are fighting to stop drunk driving. Unfortunately, drunk driving cannot be stopped. People will always commit this heinous crime. The numbers may go down, but unfortunately there will always be a number. The only way to continually decrease the amount of lives lost is to increase punishments for drunk driving.

Abstract This writing is on the many arguments that arise about the blood alcohol concentration limits around the country. Should the limits be lowered, keep them the same, and is there too much of a risk involved by lowering (BAC) limits? Costello (2014), and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), report other areas of concern such as, injury prevention and safety countermeasures. That scenario will be the focus of the (BAC) limits presently being lowered throughout many states across the U.S. There will be a review of the public’s viewpoint concerning the reduction in these limits. A look into the legal system’s involvement with (BAC) limit changes. There are numerous attorney’s around the world fighting for driving under the influence (DUI) and driving while intoxicated (DWI) offenses to be dropped. Also, the many counter-arguments raised by attorneys, the public and National Transportation Safety Board statistical reports on injury prevention outcomes and alcohol related incidences being reduced post-law.

In the United States drink driving accounts for one-third of all of our driving deaths. Drunk driving has taken 10,076 people in the year 2013 alone and it will continue to rise as we remain the way we are. One person every 53 minutes’ dies from a drunk driving related incident, drink driving is an epidemic that can be stopped by getting someone else to drive for the impaired person. However, the more people that are drinking and driving on our roads the more dangerous they are for the rest of us.

Of the people involved in fatal car crashes, the proportion of drivers with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of .8 or higher has decreased since 1982, when the MLDA Act was first introduced. This is shown in a graph from the publication “Statistical Analysis of Alcohol-Related Driving Trends, 1982-2005” written by Jennifer N. Dang, who is employed in the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. In Figure 1, it shows the proportion of drivers involved in fatal crashes with a BAC of .08 or above started out at 35% in 1982 and then throughout the years it decreased to 20% in 2005

Driving under the influence is one of the deadliest outcomes of underage drinking. Though underage drinking is already a major issue, data supports that if the legal age to consume alcohol was lowered then underage drinking would increase greatly. A recent study found that higher legal drinking ages are associated with lower traffic accident rates” (“Should ”). The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimated that keeping the legal drinking age at 21, decreased the number of fatal traffic accidents for 18- to 20-year-olds by 13 percent and saved approximately 27,052 lives from 1975-2008 (“Underage”). Furthermore, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that, on average, alcohol is a factor in the deaths of 4,358

Approximately one million people are injured in alcohol-related traffic crashes every year and young people, ages 16 to 24 are involved in 28% of those alcohol-related driving accidents, although they make up only 14% of the U.S. population. On any given weekend evening, one in 10 drivers on America's roads has been drinking and according to the latest statistics, in a family of five the prospect of you or someone in your family being involved in an alcohol-related motor vehicle accident in their lifetime, is an astounding 200 percent. That's a lot of tragic, meaningless deaths that could actually have been avoided.

In 2009, there were 10,839 alcohol related automobile fatalities. That is an average of one alcohol impaired driving fatality every 48 minutes (Christopher 1). Drivers’ deciding to drive while they have consumed any amount of alcohol is being done more and more. Therefore, drunk driving laws need to become harsher to discourage people from putting their lives, as well as others, at risk.

Alcohol consumption is considered to be a part of culture in many countries and the United States is no exception to this ideological thinking. However, drinking responsibly and understanding the impairments alcohol has on the body is a key component to being safe and within the regulations and laws established by the states. With this being said, many people still find themselves behind the wheel of a vehicle after consuming too much alcohol and are quickly found to be in violation of the laws set forth. Alcohol is a key factor in many traffic accidents and the lethality of these accidents increase when alcohol is involved, leading to 41% of all traffic fatalities being caused by a DUI offender in 2002 (Hingson & Winter 63). Driving under the influence (DUI) of alcohol can be defined as being over an established limit of Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) prescribed by that state. While most states have set their basic BAC level to 0.08%, the sanctions, treatment and monitoring of offenders is widely varied across the states (Voas, et al 1221). The effects on DUI offenders, although varied, follow a similar guideline that includes license suspensions, treatment, offender monitoring, fines, and sometimes incarceration.