The Effects Of Driving On Driving

This pattern often encourages people to drink more to keep the buzz going." ( Net Biz Mentor ). When people get like that they usually get a little bolder and want to do normal tasks and routines like driving a motorized vehicle. The effects of alcohol result in poor coordination, slurred speech, double vision, decrease of self-control, lost of consciousness and maybe even death.

Driving under the influence has affected many people's lives and families. Today I would like to talk to you about the problems of drinking and driving, and why it is a concern for all of us. Driving under the influence is one of the most common and dangerous situations you can put yourself or someone else in. The fact is that drinking and driving is a huge deal and can leave a long trail of broken dreams and hearts. If you drink and drive, not only are you putting yourself at risk, but your passengers and the pedestrians outside of your vehicle. According to the most recent statistics by the National Commission Against Drunk Driving states that 17,000 Americans die each year in alcohol- related traffic crashes and 600,000 Americans

“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.

People seem to get the wrong impression that alcohol is classified as a stimulant or “upper”, but in actuality alcohol is a depressant. The short term physical effects depend on the blood-alcohol level. It ranges from random changes in mood to complete lack of coordination, impaired vision, lack of balance and slurred speech. However, larger amounts of blood alcohol can strongly effect brain functioning and eventually cause a person to “black out”. In examining the thought process for drinking and driving behavior, Kulick and Rosenberg (1999) found that while the majority of their college student sample frequently drove after drinking, these students rationalized this behavior in a variety of ways. The most commonly found reasons for driving under the influence of alcohol were the strong desire to get to a specific destination (e.g., home), convincing oneself as being only slightly intoxicated, and/or believing

Alcohol consumption can cause impairment while operating machinery or driving. Alcohol has be proven to affect two specifics part of the brain. The prefrontal cortex and the hippocampus. The prefrontal cortex is the center of attention while the hippocampus is the center of learning and memorization. While driving under the influence of alcohol, our attention (which is controlled by the prefrontal cortex) on the road is affected as well as our self-awareness. A second of inattention on the road can result in a deathly event. Thus, we can say that the specific deficit in driving behavior that makes alcohol consumption dangerous is the lack of

Many people have lost their lives on the road and caused other’s deaths because they were distracted with doing something while driving. In 2012, 3,328 people were killed in distraction-related crashes (“Statistics on Texting & Cell Phone Use While Driving” n.d.). Distractions while driving that result in these accidents include texting/making a call or becoming intoxicated and having high blood alcohol concentration. Many laws have been brought forth to help regulate the amount of people drinking while driving and using a cell phone while driving. Not only do people put their own lives in danger, they are also putting other’s lives in danger. People who take part in these distractions are not being responsible when making these rash decisions while driving and creating a hazardous environment for those around them.

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.

The mental state of a drunk driver is affected in many ways from the poison in alcohol. . “At .02% BAC, drivers experience a decline in visual functions, such as rapid tracking of a moving target, as well as worsened ability to perform two tasks at the same time,” (Held). The intoxication of an alcohol product causes its consumer to have no coordination while driving. Also, it affects the reaction of the person under the influence of alcohol, their reaction becomes slow creating a likely crash to occur. The factor of a driver’s state of mind result to numerous consequences.

“It eases off the movement of the focal sensory system, including the brain. Liquor could influence you’re driving by bringing on: impaired vision, reduced response times, reduced fixation and vigilance, feeling more loose and languid, which may cause a driver to nod off at the worst possible time, difficulty in understanding tactile data, difficulty concentrating on other traffic, and failure to obey street principles. The aftereffect impacts of liquor, the following day, can make it hard to think and drive securely, and may make you nod off while driving. An individual who has been drinking liquor may imagine that in the event that they are particularly watchful, they will have the capacity to drive securely. Notwithstanding, the liquor may have influenced their perspective and knowledge of reality. Their activities and reactions may be very distinctive to what is really required, yet they may be unconscious of the amount their driving abilities have been influenced”

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.

Distracted driving is one of the fastest growing problems in the United States.   It is starting to be considered as serious as drunk driving based on the dangerous outcomes.  According to the Department of Transportation (2012), “distracted driving was a cause of roughly 450,000 accident-related injuries and nearly 5,500 fatalities in 2009 alone” (para. 1). Drivers who allow themselves to become distracted while driving are not only endangering themselves, but other innocent bystanders.

Governors Highway Safety (2015) and Leader (2014) states that over 400 drugs are tracked by NHTSA that can cause impairment and there is growing evidence that shows drugs are just as capable as alcohol in automobile related fatalities. People do not realize that any type of drug, even sleeping pills can lead to low performance on the road (Kuehn, 2013). Kuehn states that even after sleep, individuals who have taken sleeping pills may remain too impaired to drive. This shows how even prescribed medication can cause impairment, so not only are illegal drugs impacting the safety of the roads, but medication people take that doctors prescribe are putting people at risk. National Institute on Drug (2015) and NHTSA (2015) states that drivers who used marijuana and then drove were associated with greater risk of crashes due to lane weaving, and poor reaction time and attention to the road. Marijuana alters the mind just like alcohol does, the effects are different, but both substances cause impairment. These effects on society are only hurting people, but there are ways to combat the

Driving a vehicle under the influence impedes the capability of an individual to drive safely. The people in the vehicle as well as on the streets are considered to be at risk. This indicator directs the link between transportation and negative health outcomes. This measure supports the policies and laws against alcohol impaired driving. The annual estimated cost of alcohol related motorized crashes in the United States is more than $59 billion (Blincoe et al., 2014). In the year 2012, a total of 10,322 people died in alcohol-impaired driving crashes, which is around (31%) of all traffic related crashes in the United States (U.S. DOT, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 2012).

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

Driving a vehicle while under the influence of alcohol is one of the most dangerous things you can do. There is a mass of research evidence to show that driving performance and reaction times are seriously affected by alcohol. Our law in Georgia states, “that it is illegal to operate a motor vehicle if your blood alcohol concentration (BAC) exceeds .10%. Georgia observes a "per se" law. (Craft)