Imagine waking up one day and realizing the one person who you love dearly has a severe drinking problem. What about finding out that a fellow friend or family member had their life taken from them because someone made the choice to drive after drinking! What if your child’s life was abruptly ended because their friend decided it was cool to drive after having a few beers. Well the fact of the matter is drinking and Driving is one of the biggest killers of many young Americans these days. What drives many people to drink and drive? Do they do because of the peer pressure or maybe because they think it makes them look cool? More and more young adults are start to drink at younger ages to help cope with issues that they have in their young lives instead of dealing with their issues directly. Many people do it to make them feel better about themselves, yet many do it to relieve to pressure of the work day. Yet the biggest about of alcohol is being consumed by people below the age of twenty one. Many are being influenced by peer pressure and by the effects of those around them. Peer Pressure has the ability to work in two ways; the positive effect which deters the young away and then the negative effect which draws them in. In 1980 there was a significant study done to show the conclusion of drunken driving penalties on many young adults and teenagers. Many young drivers reported the top four reasons why they wouldn’t drink and drive: 1. Peer disapproval 2.
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
Imagine the idea of a college student driving back to her dorm from the grocery store. She waits patiently for the light to turn green as she sings to her favorite song on the radio. Finally, its time for her to go and she accelerates through the intersection. Little did she know a man that had too many drinks would come flying through the red light. The last thing she saw was the headlights of his car. Drunk driving is a heartbreaking occurrence. Every day drunk drivers are imprisoned, either for traffic violations, dangerous driving, or accidents. People that make the mistake of drinking and driving not only put themselves in danger; they put all of the other people on the roads in danger. Innocent lives may be lost because of another’s
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.
The first group will be tested for the effectiveness of a positive advertisement within an academic setting. The advertisement, shown in Appendix A, will be placed around the university setting where the participants will be asked to meet the researchers. The researchers will ask the students to walk around and read the many different positive advertisements while consuming one to two provided alcoholic beverages. The advertisements placed within this setting are priming the students about drinking and driving. After an hour within this
"The problem with drinking and driving is the mourning after", a very simile quote has such a huge meaning behind it, in my family's case we got off lucky. It was a late night, my father received the phone call, I don't think I've seen that look ever in his eyes the 18 years I've been alive. It was about his brother he had gotten in a very catastrophic accident after making the horrible choice to drink and drive. It seemed like the longest drive to Dallas which is where my uncle was airlifted to go into surgery. We arrived at the hospital and were told he was unconscious so I waited in the waiting room with my cousins to comfort them while my aunt and dad were in the room with my uncle. After sitting in the gloomy waiting room for what seemed life forever I decided to take my cousins home we stopped by to get food. His choice to drink and drive was a very bad one, he was unfit to make such a big choice while not in the correct state of mind he had alcohol in his system and lots of it, he had no right to endanger not only his life but every other person that was around him while he was driving. Statistics show that Texas is the leading state for drunk driving cases and Harris county alone had 362 deaths in 2015 alone, driving under the influence not only has physical damage that can be done there's the emotional side that people have to deal with and what the families go through, drunk driving has more effects than just what just meets the eye. Drunk drivers
Unfortunately the usual teen does not ever believe anything bad will ever happen to them and therefore they do not realize what could happen to them while being under the influence of alcohol. Frequently, we hear about bad things happening in the news and the words, "alcohol related" are attached to the news story. This is particularly common in car accidents with teen drivers. Not only are they young and less experienced drivers on the road but also participating in drinking and it is often a fatal mistake. Drunk driving continues to murder more innocent people on the roads than ever before. Many feel that the laws punishing those charged with a Driving under the influence charge are too lenient and if stronger laws were present it would assist people from doing this destructive behavior. Teenagers today are more afraid about their parents finding out they were at a party where they had alcohol than getting in the car intoxicated. This needs to change also where stronger communication of parents and their teenage drivers takes place.
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.
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.
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.
Drunk driving is considered a serious crime in every state. It is wrong, irresponsible and wastes many lives. People who abuse alcohol hurt everyone around them, endanger public safety, and create carnage on the nation's highways. There is nothing positive that can come out of drunk driving, so why do people do it? It is society's job to punish these menaces and try to take control of this out of control issue. America doesn't want to watch idly as hundreds of people are killed each day. We want to take a stand and let the world know that we may be the 'land of the free and the brave' but there is nothing brave or free about driving drunk. What should be done about this problem is debatable and certainly open to discussion, but the first
Drinking and driving is one of the biggest social issues for teens across the United States. Getting behind the wheel of a vehicle after consuming alcohol is a very dangerous thing no matter what age you are. However, teens do not think about the consequences of drinking and driving until it is already too late. Many things contribute to this growing problem of teen drinking and driving. First, there is a lack of education about drinking and driving in schools today. Next, peer pressure is difficult for many teens to resist. Finally, the access that teens have to alcohol and to vehicles is not monitored. According to blah blah study, 000% of high school students admit
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
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
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.
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