Drunk Driving

I recently received my driving permit, so that means I have to start thinking a lot about being a responsible driver. At the end of the school year, I will be able to get my license, and many of my friends will have a license too. Drinking is obviously not legal at my age, but it doesn't mean that I don't have to worry about it. It is definitely important for me to avoid situations with drunk drivers. That starts with knowing the facts about the effect alcohol has on driving. Although the limit for blood alcohol content is .08, the average BAC of fatally injured drivers is .16, twice the amount that makes driving illegal. Even worse for me, males were involved in about eighty-one percent of fatal crashes involving a driver with BAC .08 or over. The risk of death in single-vehicle crashes is about 385 times higher for people with a high BAC than with zero alcohol. Even without an illegal concentration amount, if a police officer observes you are not fit to drive, you can be given a DUI, according to alcoholalert.com. Also mentioned on that site, thirty-two percent of traffic fatalities involved an alcohol-impaired driver. Between 1990 and 1999, the percent of fatalities involving alcohol decreased or made no change every year. It went up from '99 to 2002, but has been going down since. On the down side, Illinois had the fifth highest number of alcohol related deaths, and seventh highest percent, in 2006 in the United States.




Solutions:

Sobriety courts have a low rate of failure. They treat alcoholism and address repeat offenders and are very effective. Taking away someone's license automatically is the most effective way, though, to handle drunken driving problems. An added mandatory jail session of course works even better. These solutions and many more were suggested by http://www2.potsdam.edu/hansondj/DrinkingandDriving.html.



The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found that eighteen to twenty percent of injured drivers are using drugs, and although drinking is decreasing, drug use is increasing. However, in a study of three Australian states, under ten percent of crashes involved both drugs and alcohol.

Because the risk of crashing with an alcohol impaired driver is much higher than with one who is not under the influence, do not drink and drive or ride with a driver who has been drinking. The second link has many more suggestions about how to stay safe and is worth reading. For high school students, I have a question to consider. What is worse? Being scolded by a parent for drinking, or for crashing their car after drinking?