Drinking and DrivingJoin now to read essay Drinking and DrivingDriving 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 are injured (NCADD). That’s is and average of one fatal accident every thirty minutes. Every thirty minutes someone’s life has ended and his or her family and friends left to weep. Anyone of these accidents could easily be a family member, relative, or neighbor. Most of these alcohol-related crashes are not just cuts and bruises. People are paralyzed, severely disfigured, or have lost the ability to live out a normal life with work and having fun are now activities that now rely on the aid of others.
There is plenty of reasons alcohol and driving does not mix. The body is a very complicated organism with everything needing to go just right for it to function properly. Alcohol only affects how your body functions negatively. Alcohol is a downer that reduces activity in the central nervous system. The person exhibits loss muscle tone, loss of fine motor coordination ( Net Biz Mentor). Depression and alcohol also do not mix. When people get depressed from everyday life they have the tendency to do give in to the easy but temporary solution of alcohol. When people are depress and drink, a beer is like a potato chip, you cannot have just one. “After drinking people usually feel pleasure and become talkative at first. These feelings are usually replaced by drowsiness as the alcohol is eliminated from the body, and the drinker may then become withdrawn. 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.
The legal consequences of drunk driving are also severe. The more a person drinks, the more their ability to make important decisions wear down and becomes impaired. After even just one drink a person can lose the ability to operate a vehicle. At certain parts in the state of intoxication, it becomes illegal to drive a car and if you get caught it can possible lead to fines, or even imprisonment. The legal limit of alcohol you can consume changes from state to state, but the penalty of driving under the influence is always severe. Getting arrested and maybe being forced to sleep in a drunk tank is just some of the problems you also have to carry the humiliation and the shame of being caught and that person might just end up with their name written up in the local news paper. Alcoholism is a disease and it can make you do some things you would not want to and to repeat you’re past mistakes. More than one-third of drives arrested for intoxication are repeat offenders. Drivers with a prior DUI offense have a much higher likelihood to be in a fatal crash. (NCADD). Repeat offenders also face the risk of ruining their own lives. They have the risk of possibility losing their license and that could also result in the losing of their jobs if their employer finds out about the conviction.
Teenagers and young adults are constantly bombarded with alcohol. From the funny beer commercials with the beautiful women who drink and from friends and other outside influences it is getting harder for kids to resist the lure of alcohol and say no. More than 40% of teenage deaths occur in motor vehicle accidents 38.9 % were alcohol related crashes. (MADD, 2003). Just last year alone 1877 teenagers died as a result of drunk driving (MADD, 2003). These are young people who could have possibly grown up to be the next Michel Jordan or John F. Kennedy. These kids’ lives were cut short because of alcohol. Did you know that it is believed that the average young person will have seen 100,00 beer commercials between the age of 2 and 18? Teens and other young people are over-represented in drunk driving accidents because they tend to be relatively inexperienced drivers, inexperienced consumers of alcohol, more likely to use illegal drugs, and they have a false sense
The Bottom Line: Alcohol is a deadly and dangerous thing as it is a powerful intoxicant. Teenagers are often the ones who lead a life of substance abuse and this also increases the chance that alcohol will be prescribed. Teenagers and young adults who make up the “outgroups,” when they leave to go back to their parents or to work, are more likely to become alcohol dependent. In addition these factors mean that they are more likely to have drug problems that are more severe than alcohol, thus raising the possibility of violence. In addition these young people become particularly vulnerable when the risks to themselves and others are not only very high (though likely higher for some others), but because they may be more vulnerable at some point to addiction and substance abuse, more likely to smoke, become ill or be homeless, and the risk of contracting a chronic mental health condition. The “outgroup” consists of the following demographic groups: Black, American, and Mexican American. (See Tables. 4-7 on the right.) Age, gender, and smoking habits. All ages. (4-8 on the right.) Race and ethnicity. (Citations from the Alcohol Treatment Center at the University of Missouri at St. Louis, 2002. ) Alcohol consumed as a result of drug use tends to increase the likelihood of serious injuries, mental health problems, and accidents. This is because it is much cheaper to be used by teens to get their substance and alcohol in the first place. For more information refer to the Drug Policies and Practices of the U.S. Department of Labor [see Appendix A-1] or the NIDA-NIDA website (http://www.nida.gov/sites/default/files/nid/docs/resources/drugpolicy_pdf.pdf).
[Page 7] Table 4-6. Youth (age 12 to 18), Alcohol Use Among Non-Hispanic Young People (14 to 18), Alcohol Use Among Teens, Tobacco Use Among Teens, and Smoking During School Hours, by MADD, 2003.[Page 8]
To understand why alcohol is dangerous, let us look first at youth characteristics. Youth demographics are based on the number of youth on the social services systems (for all four age groups) that are licensed and the population of people who are alcohol dependent. The first age group (aged 12 to 18) that is most likely among these age groups is those who are under 40 years of age. There is a greater likelihood that this is the one age group that is least likely to report a drug and alcohol addiction than that of younger age group members. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, teenage alcohol use among non-Hispanic African American youth (ages 22 to 24) was 4.4 % of all youths in that age category. The second age group was the poorest group of youths (ages 25 to 29) in that category. The third group was among less well educated black youth (ages 25 to 29) and among more educated white youth (ages 30 to 34) (this is probably related to the effects of an increase in education on substance use among younger generations of these children). According to the CDC Data Tables [for those of you who have not read the report and have not read the data or simply are interested in more details here], the most common alcohol use among African American youths (aged 18+): 3.3 drinks per week. Drinking a lot of alcohol is also associated with a higher likelihood of becoming high risk for an alcohol-related death [P:.2099] (table 4-4). The second age group that was most likely to have reported a substance disorder and high risk for that disorder are those age 12 to 18. Drinking fewer drinks during a non-nightly period (less than 60 mL of water per day) might also increase
The Bottom Line: Alcohol is a deadly and dangerous thing as it is a powerful intoxicant. Teenagers are often the ones who lead a life of substance abuse and this also increases the chance that alcohol will be prescribed. Teenagers and young adults who make up the “outgroups,” when they leave to go back to their parents or to work, are more likely to become alcohol dependent. In addition these factors mean that they are more likely to have drug problems that are more severe than alcohol, thus raising the possibility of violence. In addition these young people become particularly vulnerable when the risks to themselves and others are not only very high (though likely higher for some others), but because they may be more vulnerable at some point to addiction and substance abuse, more likely to smoke, become ill or be homeless, and the risk of contracting a chronic mental health condition. The “outgroup” consists of the following demographic groups: Black, American, and Mexican American. (See Tables. 4-7 on the right.) Age, gender, and smoking habits. All ages. (4-8 on the right.) Race and ethnicity. (Citations from the Alcohol Treatment Center at the University of Missouri at St. Louis, 2002. ) Alcohol consumed as a result of drug use tends to increase the likelihood of serious injuries, mental health problems, and accidents. This is because it is much cheaper to be used by teens to get their substance and alcohol in the first place. For more information refer to the Drug Policies and Practices of the U.S. Department of Labor [see Appendix A-1] or the NIDA-NIDA website (http://www.nida.gov/sites/default/files/nid/docs/resources/drugpolicy_pdf.pdf).
[Page 7] Table 4-6. Youth (age 12 to 18), Alcohol Use Among Non-Hispanic Young People (14 to 18), Alcohol Use Among Teens, Tobacco Use Among Teens, and Smoking During School Hours, by MADD, 2003.[Page 8]
To understand why alcohol is dangerous, let us look first at youth characteristics. Youth demographics are based on the number of youth on the social services systems (for all four age groups) that are licensed and the population of people who are alcohol dependent. The first age group (aged 12 to 18) that is most likely among these age groups is those who are under 40 years of age. There is a greater likelihood that this is the one age group that is least likely to report a drug and alcohol addiction than that of younger age group members. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, teenage alcohol use among non-Hispanic African American youth (ages 22 to 24) was 4.4 % of all youths in that age category. The second age group was the poorest group of youths (ages 25 to 29) in that category. The third group was among less well educated black youth (ages 25 to 29) and among more educated white youth (ages 30 to 34) (this is probably related to the effects of an increase in education on substance use among younger generations of these children). According to the CDC Data Tables [for those of you who have not read the report and have not read the data or simply are interested in more details here], the most common alcohol use among African American youths (aged 18+): 3.3 drinks per week. Drinking a lot of alcohol is also associated with a higher likelihood of becoming high risk for an alcohol-related death [P:.2099] (table 4-4). The second age group that was most likely to have reported a substance disorder and high risk for that disorder are those age 12 to 18. Drinking fewer drinks during a non-nightly period (less than 60 mL of water per day) might also increase