I am Brooklyn Bowie, a Health and Safety student at Sheridan High School. After learning about drinking and driving, I want to propose that the BAC be lowered from 0.08 to 0.06 for the safety of everyone on and off the road because even people with a BAC of 0.02 can have affected driving ability which can increase the likelihood of drivers being involved in fatal crashes and it is proven that with a BAC between 0.06 and 0.06, you are three times more likely to be involved in a crash. The first key aspect in why the BAC should be lowered to 0.06 is because even people with a BAC of 0.02, their driving is affected. As stated by Dr. Dinh-Zarr, “Even a BAL of 0.02% affects driving ability and increases the likelihood that drivers will be involved
A DUI conviction is a permanent part of ones driving record. Even though alcohol related accidents are on the decline, statistics show that a drunk driver kills someone every forty-five minutes. More so, fifty to seventy percent of drunk drivers whose licenses are suspended continue to drive. In 2000, alcohol related crashes cost the public $114.3 billion dollars! Drunk driving carries with it serious penalties from the court system and car insurance companies. One moment of fun can turn into a lifetime of heartache and tragedy. Therefore, it is not worth the risk. Possible prevention measures and solutions are not only for the law enforcement, but for the public as well. Drunk drivers face a hardcore court system, which is intolerant of DUI. Stricter penalties such as automatic licenses revocation, mandatory jail sentencing, vehicle impounding, and licenses plate confiscating are just a few ways the judicial system is handling the DUI problem. Programs such as Mothers Against Drunk Driving and Students Against Drunk Driving have led the way to bringing awareness to society. People need to be responsible and supervise their consumption to ensure that they do not drink too much. They have a moral and a legal responsibility to make sure of this. It is always best to have a designated driver. The most effective way people can prevent driving drunk is to make a personal decision not to drink
The policy being addressed is Idaho Code§18-8004 which states that it is unlawful to drive under the influence of drugs, alcohol or any other intoxicating substances in the state of Idaho. In 1984, Idaho Code§18-8004 was adopted as a state policy in Idaho. Currently, the annual deaths and crashes due to driving under the influence are annually decreasing in the United States as well as in Idaho. The National Transportation Safety Board is recommending getting the legal BAC limit in all 50 states lowered to 0.05 percent, while Mothers Against Drunk Driving is recommending it stay at 0.08 percent. Bases on research, it is important that states and organization’s do as much as they can to get the legal BAC limit lowered to 0.05 nationwide.
Drunk driving is an epidemic that continues to have severe and life threatening consequences for those involved, if we simply take a few steps against drunk driving we can help decrease this epidemic.
Lower Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) Limits This argumentative research paper will discuss and evaluate the blood alcohol concentration (BAC) limits being lowered around the country. Should be the limits be lowered? 1 Although, alcohol abuse is unsafe, lowering the BAC
I believe that the drinking age should be lowered to the age of 18. I took this stance in my health class debate last year and it was a success. There are many reasons why the drinking age should be lowered that I will discuss in this paper. These reasons are very convincing and should be considered by the government. I will also look into what action is being taken on decreasing the yearly amount of DUI’s.
You would think that if a person gets pulled over, arrested, gets his/her license suspended and gets court ordered to pay 250+ dollars in fines, that they would never get behind the wheel under the influence again and endanger someone else’s life. Wrong. According to a 2007 AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety study over half of drivers arrested for drunk driving in the nation are repeat offenders. All states have adopted 21 as the legal drinking age. Two-thirds of the states have now passed Administrative License Revocation (ALR) laws, which allow the arresting officer to take the license of drivers who fail or refuse to take a breath test. All states have now lowered the legal blood alcohol concentration (BAC) limit from .10 to .08 percent for adults, and all states have passed Zero Tolerance laws which prohibit drivers under twenty-one from having any amount of alcohol in their blood system. The penalties have increased for drinking and driving, yet the repeated offenders percentages haven’t decreased. Thus proving, what the laws are doing now is not working and they need to be raised. Going back to the purpose of punishment, if people keep doing the same thing, than the consequences before did not faze them and need to be stricter.
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.
Another step that should be made in order for this law to be taken is to increase the amount of drinking and driving laws. Drunk driving should not be tolerated of any kind. Punishment should be increased and the current zero tolerance policy should remain if not made harsher. This would make anti drinking organizations such as M.A.D.D. and S.A.D.D. happy for the drinking and driving aspect. Defensive driving courses would also be made readily available in high schools throughout the country. It would be a mandatory course to take. This would be a regulation because in most cases there will be a small percentage of drunk drivers on the road still. There are more and more teenage drivers on the road currently and these defensive driving courses would help make responsible drivers aware of the dangers and prevent them from accidents involving the drunk driving. No matter what the legal drinking age is there will always be drunk drivers on the road. Teenagers are over-represented in driving accidents involving alcohol. But for the ones that do, we must enforce harsher penalty’s to drivers that are under the influence. Another thing that would be helpful is for the government to sponsor a program that would support some sort of Designated Drivers program on college campus’s and bars. This would eliminate a lot of the possible drinking and driving situations that would arise and it would condone responsible drinking policies to everyone, and
The final reason the legal drinking age should not be lowered is because of alcohol related motor accidents. Drunk driving is an enormous public safety issue and is the fourth leading cause of death in the U.S alone. Attorney Rich Stim says, “Although drivers under the age of 21 represent 10 percent of licensed drivers they are responsible for 17 percent of fatal alcohol-related crashes. Approximately 2,000 underage drinkers die each year behind the wheel and alcohol is a factor in a third of all teenage auto fatalities”. (Stim) Lowering the drinking age would make alcohol related fatalities rise immensely. When young people drink and get into a car, they tend to make irresponsible decisions that may put them in danger. For example, young
Reviewing these statists one may be able to analaze and see that even drivers between 21 to 24 were high at risk. What would make a person want to lower the drinking age to 18. Young adults at eighteen are new drivers and less expierenced then the 21 + drivers and logically would produce more fatal crashes.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, in 2011, 1,163 young drivers – ages 15 to 20 – who were killed in traffic accidents had a blood alcohol concentration of more than 0.01. Almost half of those drivers had a blood alcohol concentration greater than 0.08 (Intoxalock). Imagine how high these numbers would be if the legal drinking age in the United States was 18. There are multiple, important reasons being discussed about why no one should be able to legally purchase or consume alcohol until they are 21. The minimum age to legally purchase and consume alcohol in the United States should not be changed to 18 because it would be medically irresponsible, give young kids easier access to alcohol, and influence binge drinking.
Although there are many commercials, ads, documentaries, seminars, etc. on the reasons why people should never drink and drive, you would be surprised how many people still get behind the wheel after having had more than just a drink or two. We might not realize it but every day, about 28 people in the United States die in car crashes that involve a drunk driver. This equals to one death every 51 minutes! It’s so sad because these statistics could be way better if people had a well thought out plan prior to going out drinking. There has been research found relating to Drinking and Driving Behaviors since this topic is now becoming more of an issue in this generation than it was in the past. For instance, Schell, Chan, and Morral (2006), found that some people who have a DUI record tend to have pretty high expectations of themselves even after having some drinks in their system (e.g., “I feel more relaxed when drinking"), so with that being said those people with higher confidence were the ones more likely to be engaged in drinking and driving activity. While intoxicated, we often don’t consider any negative consequences that can happen to us but as you’ll see on the news, on social media, in the newspapers, etc. driving while under the influence can be very dangerous and even fatal.
While people want to lower the drinking age, they are right not doing so because this could cause more car accidents. In an article titled Study: Lowering The Drinking Age Increases Car Crashes Among Youth by Join Together Staff, the author states “Several studies in the United States have shown significant reductions in alcohol-related traffic crashes since the Uniform Drinking
First and foremost, the legal blood alcohol content while driving in the U.S. is currently at .08%. This is relatively high compared to many countries. A research article on Science Daily reports that “More than 100 countries around the world have limits set at BAC 0.05 percent or below”. Some may argue that this limit of .08% needs to be reduced, while some see it the other way around and they agree with this amount. In reality, blood alcohol content is very sensitive in the fact that just being a small margin above or below .08% can really make a difference regarding the level of impairment for the drinker. Studies at the University of California conclude that they “find no safe combination of drinking and driving -- no point at which it is harmless to consume alcohol and get behind the wheel of a car”. Their data from experimentation with intoxicated drivers also suggests and supports the idea of reducing the legal BAC in
If you drink and drive, you are not only a danger to yourself but also to your passenger, other road users and pedestrians. In fact, every 30 minutes, someone in this country dies in alcohol-related crash. Every 30 minutes! And last year alone more than one million people are injured in