Fun or disaster, this paper is about the effects of drunk driving

Essay by mhb July 2004

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Fun or Disaster

Last year more then one million people were injured or killed in alcohol related crashes. Driving while intoxicated is dangerous, and drivers with high blood alcohol content (BAC) are at increased risk of car accidents, highway injuries and vehicular deaths. There is a lot of research and evidence that shows what happens when a person drinks, and the effects of them driving. When a person drives under the influence they are not only putting themselves in danger, but their passengers too. They also endanger other people on the road, as well, as the pedestrians.

As a person drinks they could develop poor coordination, slurred speech, double vision, decrease of self control, loss of consciousness, and even death. The more a person drinks, the more their ability to make important decisions become impaired. After just one drink, a driver can lose the ability to be able to operate a vehicle safely.

Traffic crashes are the leading cause of death for adults and for teens. "Drivers between the ages 16 and 20 are twenty times as likely to have a crash compared to other drivers," (www.nhtsa.dot.gov) and "were involved in 28% of all alcohol-related driving. That is 14% of the United States population." (www.madd.org) "In 2002 alone, 258,000 people were injured and 17,419 people were killed due to drinking and driving. That represents 41% of the 42,815 traffic fatalities," according to the statistics reported by CBS news. "The average BAC among fatally injured drinking drivers is .17, but almost half of them were .20 or over."(www.ncadd.com) "In the past ten years, 250,000 people have died from alcohol-related vehicular crashes, although from the 1980's to now, the number of

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deaths has decreased dramatically." (www.nhtsa.dot.gov)

Over the years law enforcement agencies have been stepping it up and doing what they...