In the United States of America over 10,000 people die each year from accidents involving an alcohol-impaired driver and according to CBS news, that number is on the rise. Drunk driving is the criminal act of driving while being impaired, alcoholically. When alcohol is consumed it is absorbed into the bloodstream. In most situations alcohol slows down the brain's ability to control the body, reflexes are also affected by this. If a driver is impaired his ability to track moving objects are affected along with the ability to control the vehicle. Drunk driving is a controversial topic because, some people think there should be more laws to prevent it while other believe the laws should be left alone. To begin drunk driving is a controversial topic because some people think the government should make more laws to prevent people from driving while drunk. A lower blood alcohol limit has been discussed by many including the U.S. Supreme Court. Some countries have already lowered their legal blood alcohol concentration limit. Kurtis Lee says in the article “Utah getting tougher on drinking” that “several European countries including France and Germany have legal blood alcohol concentration limits of 0.05%” (Lee). This quote discusses how other countries have lowered their legal blood alcohol concentration limit to 0.05. The topic of a lowered blood alcohol concentration limit has been debated on for a long time, some countries already decided to lower the legal blood alcohol limit from the standard 0.08% to a new 0.05%. In the United States of America drunk driving has truly become a problem with the fatality count of crashes that involve an alcohol-impaired driver so high. Kurtis Lee informs in the article “Utah getting tougher on drinking” That “Nationally, 28 people die everyday in motor vehicle Fcrashes involving an alcohol-impaired driver” (Lee). That quote informs people of the numbers of people that die from alcohol-related crashes daily. Because of the evidence provided by this quote it can be decided that more laws are needed against drunk driving so that the number of fatalities from alcohol-related deaths can be lowered. Therefore drunk driving is a controversial matter because many people
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 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.
It was proposed to me that we murder every one of the numb nuts who drink and drive, yet I felt this was excessively cruel . For what reason not let them murder themselves? The country, overall, would be more lovely, more joyful and more happy in the event that they ended their life so we wouldn't have to.
Driving under the influence of alcohol has been a major issue in America, spanning all the way back to more than 50 years ago (Raymond). Many accidents are caused from drinking and driving yearly, resulting in thousands of deaths and injuries involving innocent people. When alcohol is mixed with driving a motor vehicle, there are no limits to who may be at risk. This means that drunk driving has been harming, hurting and killing many innocent people in America. Over the years I have witnessed many aftermaths of drunk driving accidents and have heard of multiple accidents resulting from alcohol use involving people I know, and people I do not know. Sometimes, in accidents like these, all parties involved may walk away from the accident with
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.
Drunk driving is a dangerous problem that needs to be addressed in our society, not only to cut back on the number of deaths caused by alcohol related accidents but also to ensure safety on public roads. Drunk driving is deliberately breaking the law, as well as a sign of indifference for other drivers.
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.
Driving under the influence of alcohol not only presents a danger to the driver, but also to every other motorist or pedestrian near the roadway. Being intoxicated impairs ones judgment, vision and reaction time, all of which is critical when operating any motor vehicle. Motor vehicle accidents are the leading cause of death for Americans aged 6–27 and alcohol is a big factor to those numbers (jstor).
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.¨ ()
You see all the times in the paper person dies due to drunk driving wreck. Driving while under the influence can affect your judgment skills. Drunk driving is a very serious issue in today’s world here of some of the many issues why it is becoming such a big concern.
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
Alcohol in large doses can be very detrimental to not only the user but to people around him/her. For example, if a man was to go to a club and drink a lot of alcohol, in which his body cannot withhold; his heavy intakes will lead to dizziness, vomiting, and impaired breathing and in extreme cases, unconsciousness and coma that can lead to death. According to Caron, underage drinking is a leading public health problem in the United States. Each year, approximately 5,000 young people under the age of 21 die as a result of drinking: 1,900 from motor vehicle accidents, 1,600 from homicides, 300 from suicides, and hundreds from other injuries such as falls, burns, and drowning. This shows that anyone on the road near an intoxicated driver is in grave danger as they can be killed or badly injured in an instant as the drunk driver has slight control over anything they are doing. Many reckless kills have been made by drunken drivers/people over the years resulting in many families to pay the price of losing a family member for no relevant reason at all but making alcohol increase death rates that could be provoked by intruding prohibition.
In the United States, driving under the influence of alcohol is a major problem as it accounts for a high number of road fatalities. It is a criminal offense for a person to drive under the influence of alcohol in almost all countries in the world. Nations impose penalties for drunk driving; however, they vary widely from states to states. Nevertheless, many countries seem to come to an agreement that drunk driving claims many lives in a year, which is intolerable. For instance, in 2008 alone, in the US, more than 11000 lives perished in the road carnage due to drivers driving under the influence of alcohol (Grant 16). Therefore, the government should employ or enforce stricter laws towards driving under the influence, to reduce road fatalities.