Media And Driving Essay

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).

Substance abuse is a key component to the problems that we face today as a society. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration ("Alcohol-Impaired Driving", 2009) in 2009, 32% of all motor vehicle traffic fatalities in the United States were due to alcohol-impaired driving crashes. Surveys were also conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Compton, & Berning, 2009) so researchers were able to estimate not only the prevalence of drinking and driving, but for the first time they were also able to collect data on the number of drivers who were under the influence of drugs that impaired their abilities. In this data, it was found that 16% of weekend night time drivers tested positive for impairing drugs, in contrast to the 2% of drivers who were at the legal alcohol limit; making drugs 7 times more prevalent. These statistics show that “drugged” driving is a concern for not only law enforcement but also puts other drivers at risk of becoming a part of future statistics.

“In the hands of an impaired driver, a vehicle becomes a murderous weapon.” ( ) Everyone can think of someone who has driven impaired, or even maybe you have done it yourself. The fact that one can think of someone who has driven impaired is a problem. Too many people are getting behind the wheel after drinking, smoking; or are not paying attention while they drive. Impaired driving continues to a problem although strides have been made to make a difference. There are many different types of impaired driving, each that have their own consequences. These types, and consequences will be explored in this essay.

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.

As to my own part, having turned my thoughts for many years, upon this important subject, and maturely weighed the several schemes of our projectors, I have always found them grossly mistaken in their computation. It is true. There are not enough drivers who drive under the influence. In the year 2001, MADD Online approximated that only one in ten drivers, a mere 25 million, drove drunk, and, consequently these drivers were the ones significantly more likely to be involved in a crash of some sort, but why shouldn’t we level the playing field? (1)

Drug-impaired driving is becoming a much more common issue on Canada's streets, and the number of people driving after taking drugs is greater than those who drive after drinking. Regardless of public perception that drugs may be less harmful to drivers, evidence is growing that drug impairment contributes to collisions. Roadside saliva tests have become more accurate and cost-effective in recent years, particularly for the most commonly-used drugs. Drugs can cause you not to think through decisions before making them. When under the influence you have control over your body and who knows what would happen, it could be as extensive as waking up in the hospital or not waking up at all. The consequences are the same for drinking and driving pretty much.

A variety of risks are involved with driving a vehicle; one of the most important risks associated with driving is impairment. Impaired driving is one the problems that has been a criminal act in Canada since 1921(statcan). Individuals who drive vehicles while under the influence of drugs and alcohol present themselves immediate danger through lack of attention and a rise in unsafe driving practices. Furthermore, impairment also presents drivers increased chances of receiving tickets which pose additional financial issues. Impaired driving can include the use of marijuana, prescription drugs, non-prescribed drugs and alcohol. "Impaired driving is the leading cause of death on highways. Police patrols can reduce road accidents, provided they are effective"(Dionne, 2006). Studies focusing on higher police patrol presence and road blocks have data concluding the positive effects on the communities that are a part of the plan to reduce drinking and driving. Although drinking and driving had steadily been on the decline for the past 25 years there was a small rise from 2006 to 2011.(statcan). The fight against drinking and driving has led to

Unfortunately, some of the money was spent on high school driver education, which increased teenage driving without reducing the number of crashes per driver, thus increasing deaths” (Robertson 296).When driving while on any kind of drug can mess up your train in thought. Although people tend to lose what they was thinking before and everything else, but most of all some forget about the dangerous outcome that will happen when they are on them. Throughout the year there has been a big change in the numbers going up on crashes. There are now programs that can help them so they can get out of everything and all the drugs that you’re on (Robertson 295). They have made vast progress: based on random stops, the number of drivers with any alcohol in their system was 35.9% in 1973. By 2007, the figure had fallen to 12.4%, according to the Department of Transportation” (Gray 54).Police to this day are still trying to get people to stop drinking and driving and doing drugs and driving. There has been so many wrecks and people dying over this case. Some people do not really understand how dangerous it can be and they still continue to do it. It was becoming to the point police can not really get anyone to understand even with them being taken into prison (Gray 54). “Three published studies have examined the effects of lowered BAC laws on teenage driving after drinking and fatal car crash involvement.(n5-n7). Youths are more likely to

Another concern is the behavior of adolescent binge drinkers. In other research it is shown that binge drinkers were more likely to engage in risky driving, such as speeding, running yellow lights, racing other cars, and passing in no passing lanes (Marcotte, T. D., Bekman, N. M., Meyer, R. A., & Brown, S. A. (2012). They also participate more in distractive activities that take their focus away from the road such as changing the station or music on the car stereo system and texting or dialing on their cell phones. In order to reduce the fatalities associated with adolescents and driving under the influence, Graduate Driver Licensing has been implemented in several U.S. States. With the use of Graduated Driver Licensing this would help lower the percentage of fatal crashes by way of new drivers being required to

Drinking and Driving has been around just as long as drugs have, yet drunk driving takes more lives than drugs do per year. Last year in 2014, 9967 people were killed in car crashes. There was 3464 cocaine related deaths during the same period. Stricter drinking and driving laws were only put into law after the Carollton bus disaster happened. In 1988 a drunk driver driving the wrong way in Kentucky hit a school bus where 27 people died and dozens more were injured. In the aftermath, Mothers Against Drunk Driving was started and throughout the 80’s drunk driving became a hot topic. At that time alcohol related accidents totaled around 100,000 a year. Deaths related to illegal drug overdose, AIDS, or violence associated with the illegal drug trade totaled up to 21, 000 per year. Sentencing for drunk drivers typically only spend two days in jail the first time and up to ten days the second. Drunk driving carries a far greater risk of violent death than the use or sale of illegal drugs, but the social response to drunk driver’s generally emphasized keeping the person functional and in society, while attempting to respond to the dangerous behavior through treatment and counseling. People charged with drug offenses, are typically charged with felonies and sentenced to prison. At that time there were not first and second chances with a few days in jail like it was for drinking and driving. One of the main reasons for this disparity is that white men account for the majority of

A lot of people do not take drinking and driving serious because they take they can make it home safe, but really they either get in wrecks or pulled over before ever making it home. “In 1996 there were 17,126 alcohol-related traffic fatalities, representing 41% of all traffic fatalities that year. In addition, more than 321,000 persons were injured in crashes where police reported the presence of alcohol involvement.¨ ()

As cell phones become more popular, texting while driving is becoming the most widely known cause for car accidents among teens. The alarming rate of incidents where texting is involved is getting more parents worried and warning their children about the danger of texting while driving. Parents are urging the fact that drivers should pay attention to the road and traffic, not their phones. A popular study of 18 to 24 year old drivers showed that 66 percent of them have texted while driving. Since texting while driving is becoming more popular many states are passing a law to ban the use of any cell phone device while in a vehicle. Texting while driving is an important issue that is causing many deaths and those who cause these deaths and

Driving under the influence of alcohol has affected and devastated countless people’s lives. Driving under the influence is one of the most dangerous situations you can put yourself or someone else into. The evidence against driving while intoxicated is massive and it has left a long trail of broken dreams and lives. If you drink and drive, not only do you possibly put yourself at risk, but your passengers and pedestrians, and other people on the roads. According to the most recent statistics by the National Commission Against Drunk Driving is that 17, 000 Americans die each year in alcohol-related traffic crashes and 600,000 Americans are injured. (National Commission Against Drunk Driving, 2003). That’s an average of one fatality every

When under the influence of alcohol or marijuana we are not allowed to operate a motor vehicle because of our inability to react or make wise decisions. On the other hand there was a study that was done that proves that people under the influence of marijuana where marginally less likely to have an accident than those who are drug free. This studied was done by a pharmacology team from the University of Adelaide and Transport. The evidence in the study says that people under the influence of marijuana drive more cautious and drove more slowly because of altered time perception. People under the influence of alcohol were responsible for 90 percent of the accidents recorded.

One of the greatest things that teenagers look forward to is getting their driver¡¦s licence and getting the freedom to do whatever they want. Ever since graduated licensing began five years ago, on April 1,1994, many people have made good and bad comments about it.