While driving down the road seventy miles an hour, a bug smashes into your windshield. You think, "I'll bet he'll never have the guts to do that again." The statement is true. However, it applies to more than just a dead bug. Since the invention of the automobile in 1903, a simple trip to the local grocery store may now prove fatal. The sudden death often leaves husbands, wives, and children alone. Why would someone die by simply driving down the road? While you may not realize it, the person coming directly at you may be drunk. Since Ford's production of the first automobile, drivers have driven drunk, taking many innocent lives and injuring others along the way; however, strides that have been taken in the prevention process have significantly decreased traffic related deaths and injury by drunk driving.
The causes of drunk driving are varied. In a market directed towards young men, the alcohol industry pays millions of dollars for advertising to increase consumption. In 1988 alone, consumers spent over eighty-eight billion dollars on alcoholic beverages (Holmes 17). That is enough money to feed children in Haiti for thousands of years. Public school systems are trying to counteract the industries attempts at t
Prevention is the most important step in protection. Policies and laws making alcohol less accessible and emphasizing risks are affecting shifts in drunk driving. The population of teens driving after drinking was only 18.9 percent, as noted after a survey of 5,000 high school students in thirty states where the BAC for teens is 0.02 percent (Recer 1). Drinking and driving has declined by twenty percent of teens that are in states with stricter drinking laws. The overall consumption of alcohol would be reduced with as little as one to ten percent increases in cost (Lang 118). The most important thing to remember if you go to a party and get drunk is to have a plan. A designated driver, cab or a dial-a-ride is all-important components in your plan. It is very dangerous to go to a party without a prearranged plan. While you may not realize it, decision making is more difficult while under the influence. One wrong choice may lead you to an early grave. This is the harsh reality of driving drunk or riding with someone who is drunk.
The answer is simple. If you are drinking, then by all means do not drive. Too many American families are torn apart each year by a death related to drinking and driving. A mother does not want to have to take flowers to her seventeen-year-old son's
Protection from drunk drivers is very important. Two things that could aid in protection are assessment of risk and expanded legislation. Single beverages can alter your motor skills to a degree, depending on your body mass and rate of consumption. Expanded legislation has been a great help in the protection process. The drinkin
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