Drinking and Driving Essay

Submitted By nobelching
Words: 599
Pages: 3

John stops at a bar for a few beers, then heads home. Susie has a few drinks, then gets in her car and drives off. There is nothing strange about these happenings, and they happed all the time. However, careless treatment of the effects of alcohol like that can and has caused many thousands to lose their lives needlessly at an estimated rate of one every 45 minutes. That number is pathetic, but many people still choose to put themselves and surrounding people at a terrible risk, despite the discouraging statistics.

Drunk driving likely will make it hard to judge the speed of your vehicle, the distance between you and other cars. It will make you less likely to notice traffic light, pedestrians, and will make it harder to concentrate on the task of driving. It makes people feel an unfounded confidence. They will take more risks, and their reaction time is slower. The risk of having a wreck at .05% BAC is double what it is at sober. At .10 % it is 7 times, and at .15 % it is a massive 25 times more probable that you will wreck. (www.transport.) Total drunk driving deaths fell 52% since 1982, but the drunk driving deaths under 21 rose 82%.(www.centurycouncil.org ) U.S. spends 37 billion on drunk driving a year. 9878 people were killed by drunk driving in U.S. in 2011. 250,000 people died in DUI crashes in the last 10 years worldwide. Which is a whopping 25000 a year, 500 a week, or 71 a day. Over 50% of fatal crashes of two or more vehicles were caused by alcohol. Over 65% of fatal single vehicle crashes were caused by alcohol. 80% of drunk driving deaths are between 8pm and 8 am. 708,000 people a year are injured a year by drunk driving, and out of these, 74,000 are serious injuries.2,000 people are hurt a day. The average drunk driver arrested has a BAC of .20% The portion of DUI deaths in the United States is among the highest in the world. Drunk driving is the most frequently committed crime in the United States. (www.duipictures.com ) There are 1.4 million arrests for drunk driving in a year. There are thousands of stories of drunk driving…