Persuasive Essay On Drunk Driving

“Automobiles are not ferocious.... it is man who is to be feared,” as Robbins B. Stoeckel remarked, enumerates a simple, yet fundamental concept- a vehicle in itself is a relatively safe, that is, until you put a person behind the controls. Further adding to the danger is the ever prevalent risk of a fellow driver being impaired by the usage of alcohol; perhaps the only thing that may make such a situation even more difficult and dangerous is one who is under the legal alcohol drinking age. Fewer situations are more life threatening than when an underage driver has been illegally consuming alcohol, yet persists in the belief that he or she retains the ability to drive safely. Thoughts along this line are foolish at best and deadly at

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).

How much longer will we be forced to endure the pain and atrocities due to the carelessness of drunk driving? Drunk driving has been a problem in the United States since the introduction of automobiles; however, it did not become an important social issue until the 1980’s. At that time the political atmosphere defined crime in terms of personal choice and individual responsibility. Drunk driving was defined as a problem located within individuals. Drunk driving is illegal in every state. It is not only illegal, but unsafe to operate an automobile if you are under the influence of alcohol.

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

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.

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.

The number of souls in this country is currently reckoned at just under three hundred million (American FactFinder 1). Of these are calculated to be approximately two hundred million licensed drivers (Licensed Drivers – Our Nation’s Highways – 2000 1); from which number I subtract twenty-five million who already drive while intoxicated (MADD Online 1). This being granted, there remains one hundred seventy-five million drivers who do not currently drive while intoxicated. There remains approximately one hundred seventy-five million drivers, their families, friends, and peers who will be

People that tend to go out for a few drinks often drink too much and still feel the need to drive themselves home. Thinking they are sober enough to tackle the drive home, sadly many people accept the challenge. People go out on the road, not knowing that they are endangering other drivers as well as themselves. Others do not trust people to drive them around so they would rather take the risk.

The states have taken some effective measures, for instance, brief license suspension, cutting down the blood alcohol obsession legal level from .01 to .08 for adults and for people under age 21 to .02. Others, for instance, restriction checkpoints, state subsidized direction, bunch care, and media campaigns about the dangers of alcohol prevented driving. Additionally a couple of routines should be seen as, for instance, those laid out in the midst of the Surgeon General's Workshop on Drunk Driving and in the national plan for harm balancing activity and control. Such methodology consolidate changing the social standard to make alcohol obstructed driving socially forbidden, compelling alcohol avilability among underaged youth, a lcohol organization get ready for the people who offer and serve alcohol, early alcohol treatment and recuperation activities, offering alternative transportation programs for those of the legal drinking age, and extending the danger's impression for catch for alcohol prevented driving. States like California have raised the discipline for wrongdoing tanked driving offenses to a maximum $1000 fine and one year in jail. In July, a state law delivered results obliging twice-sentenced tanked drivers to set up their cars mind h a breath examination contraption that keeps them from starting their engines if they have a blood-alcohol level higher than .02%. Furthermore, after Jan. 1, people

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.

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.

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.

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.

Another way to make drivers aware are consequences of driving under the influence. Although there should be more random checkpoints to increase efficiency. Doing so can increase more arrests for drunk driving. More arrests means people would take a second thought before taking the wheel while under the influence. It could be one of the most safest way to get drunk drivers out of the road ways. Some believe it causes more frustrations than good. People believe that anyone could make a decision of taking a drink and decide when one is one too many. But in reality checkpoints can cause some good. Friends can start looking out for other friends, they can designate a driver for the night. A designated driver is a person that will stay sober for the night and be responsible to drive each other home. Having a designated driver cannot only save his or her life it can save many others as well.