Drivers use their hands, eyes, and feet to control the car; but their hands, eyes, and feet must be controlled by their brains. Safe driving requires alertness and the ability to make quick decisions in rapidly changing situations. Drinking alcohol can have a profound effect on driving skills.
Alcohol affects you in a way that changes your judgement, depth perception as well as vital motor skills required to drive safely. It’s easy to think you are driving normally when truly you are not. When the police take notice you could be hit with a DUI/DWI. This is the best case scenario. Getting into an accident your life could be lost as well as any others who too are involved in this accident. According to 2009 drunk driving statistics there were 10,839 traffic fatalities in alcohol-impaired-driving crashes. This is those whose lives were lost not the total number of alcohol related accidents, or the number of individuals arrested for drinking and driving.
Is drinking and driving more important than your legal status or life? Take a cab, protect yourself as well as others on the roadways, don’t become another drinking and driving statistic. Operating a motor vehicle while sober can be difficult in itself, adding alcohol or other intoxicant into the mix is putting your life and the lives of others on the roadways at risk. Make the right choice and put your keys down. 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. If you drink and drive, you are not only a danger to yourself but also to your passenger, other road users and pedestrians. First this paper will cover the long term effects of alcohol on a human and then this paper will cover the short term effect of alcohol. The effects of alcohol on the body will be discussed and the cause of drinking will be discussed last.
There are factosr that could cause you to drink and drive before you even get in the car and begin to drive. Some examples of these long-term causes could be alcoholism and peer pressure. The alcoholism could be hereditary. This means that since you have a greater chance of becoming an alcoholic, this could in turn make you more likely to drink and drive. Peer pressure could also cause you to drink and drive. You could be the designated driver for the night and be pressured into drinking and then since you would probably have had the least to drink that night you would still be the one to drive and you have still fallen into the category of drinking and driving. This leads me to the short-term causes.
Going to a party and having a good time is a common practice among young adults today. To enhance their good time, they will use alcohol. They will drink and drink until they are extremely intoxicated. Then when the time comes for them to leave they just jump in the car and start on their way home. That is a common cause of drunk driving, probably one of the most common. The source entitled Vital Statistics Rates in the United States quoted that last year alone "more than one million percent.
First thing anyone can do is make the choice themselves not to drink and drive. With this said there are many other ways you can help to end drinking and driving. Educating the youth, your personal family members as well as youth within your community is very important. They must know the dangers of drinking and driving as well as the legal repercussions of these action. Another way to help would be to volunteer with an organization set out to end drinking and driving, this will help you to reach out to more individuals and get the word across about the dangers of drinking and driving. You can also donate to these organizations, contributions made by individuals like yourself are what make it possible to keep drivers educated and safe. If you or a loved one have a problem with alcohol, please read our resource on choosing a safe and effective alcohol treatment center.