Drunk DrivingBy: Jesse Burgess

Three of the main issues with drunk driving that need to be considered are the dangers you put yourself and others in, the physical effects, and the consequences that may take place.

Dangers

• The Gallup survey, taken every year, shows that drunk driving is our number one highway safety problem in the United States.

• Every 22 minutes, someone dies in an alcohol-related traffic accident. Experts say everyone has a 40% chance of being in a crash involving alcohol use sometime in their life.

• There is an estimated 540 deaths and over 16,000 casualties were to people other than the drinking drivers themselves each year.

• There were probably an additional 250 people killed in accidents involving drivers and riders with raised blood alcohol levels but still below the current legal limit.

Physical Effects

• Alcohol is a depressant. It acts on the central nervous system like an anesthetic to lower the activity of the brain. At first, alcohol makes you feel relaxed but after a certain point the buzzed feeling is replaced with depression, anger, loss of control, drowsiness, and sickness.

• When you consume alcohol, your eyes lose their inability to focus. Aspects like being able to perceive depth of an object become increasingly difficult. Alcohol relaxes the surrounding eye muscles and the more the concentration of BAC the more your vision gets affected. The result is that you would tend to focus on the center of the road and loose your peripheral view. You are unable to focus on specific objects, you are also can’t judge the speed of approaching vehicles.

• Another physical effect of drinking is reduced muscle coordination. The brain is the first organ of the body to get immediately affected by the alcohol. Since the brain contains the largest amount of blood, alcohol instantly passes to the brain. Regions within the brain, which control muscular movement, get affected.

• If a lot of alcohol is consumed, and the BAC levels are in excess of 0.20 or more, it can result in a condition called alcohol poisoning. This is condition where a person can experience anything from seizures, bluishness of the skin, passing out, a confused state of mind and much more. If person passes out and is unable to regain consciousness it can even lead to death.

Effects On People Around You

Driving drunk can lead to terrible accidents such as;•killing someone else •losing your own life

•imprisonment•criminal records •living with guilt that you injured or caused an accident

•depression•legal costs •increased insurance costs

• Gruenewald, Paul, Alexander Millar, and Andrew Treno. "The geography of availability and driving after drinking.." Prevention Research Center. 91.7 (1998): 967-983.

• Kuypers, K.P.C., N. Samyn, and J.G. Rammackers. "MDMA and alcohol effects, combines an alone, on objective and subjective measures of actual driving performance and psychomotor function." Springer-Verlag. 10.1007 (2006): 467-475.

• Starmer, G.A., D.J. Mascord, and . "The effects of alcohol on the cognitive function of males and females and on skills relating to car driving." Human Psychopharmacology. 7. (1992): 105-114.

Sources:

• Wirtz, John, and Alexander Rothman. "Driving Under the Influence." School of journalism and Mass Communication. 20.1 (2009): 59-65.

• King, Karen, and Leonard Reid. "Fear Arousing Anti-Drinking and Driving PSAs: Do Physical Injury Threats Influence Young Adults?." University of Georgia Research Foundation. (2002): 155-175.

• Dhami, Mandeep, David Mandel, and Rocio Retamero. "Canadian and Spanish youth's risk perceptions of drinking and driving, and riding with a drunk driver." International Union of Psychological Science. 46.2 (2010): 81-90.

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