Preview

drunk driving

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1106 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
drunk driving
The growing of alcohol has made people more cautious of their drinking habits, like young adults.Young adults have the highest prevalence of alcohol consumption than any other age group. They also drink alot more heavily, they experience more negative consequences, and engage in more harmful activities, like drunk driving. Although surveys have documented a decline in recent years, consumption rates remain highest from late teen years to the late twenties. Despite the long-term decline since 1982 in alcohol related traffic deaths, a 4 percent increase occurred between 1994 and 1995 among young adults of the age 21 and over. As alcohol impaired driving persists, The biggest problem with drunk driving by young adults is the high rate of traffic accidents. most young drivers ages 16 through 25 makeup only 15% of U.S. licensed drivers, they constitute 30 percent of all alcohol-related driving fatalities. that makes it double the amount of licensed drivers in that age group.the Inexperience with both drinking and driving may contribute to this rate.the Nationwide in 1996, people ages 15 to 24 died in fatal motor vehicle crashes and 45 percent of those deaths were a result of alcohol. its not a surprise that traffic crashes are the leading cause of death in the United States for people younger than 25. Alot is caused from the failure to wear seatbelts, and inexperienced driving. Of all these, the blood alcohol content or BAC level causes the risk to young adults drinking and driving. National research comparing BAC of drivers in single-vehicle crashes. drivers not in crashes reveal that each .02% increase in content level nearly doubles the risk of fatal crashes. For drivers under age 21, the risk increases more with each drink consumed. alcohol-related traffic accidents not only cause high death rates, but they cost society 45 billion annually in hospital costs,also rehabilitation expenses, and lost productivity .It also affects traffic

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    In 2009 it was reported that the 21- to 24-year-old age group had the highest percentage, 35 percent to be exact, of drivers in fatal crashes with blood-alcohol concentration (BAC) levels of .08 or higher (Steven C. Markoff). Coincidentally studies showed when the minimum legal drinking age (MLDA) was lowered to 18, the fatalities in traffic accidents that were related to alcohol were decreased by nearly 7.5 percent. However, the argument as to whether biologically could an 18-year olds body sustain the damage that alcohol does to the body still persists. Premature alcohol consumption has been reported to hinder the development of the brain's frontal lobes, which could lead to health problems such as addiction, dangerous risk-taking behavior, reduced decision-making ability, memory loss, and other severe issues.…

    • 1575 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Drivers Ed Essay

    • 1046 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Although the number of deaths caused by drunk driving has shown a slight decrease over the past few years, alcohol still plays a major role in motor vehicle accidents. According to Transport Canada ‘Alcohol use by drivers was a factor in almost 30 percent of deaths from vehicle crashes during 2003-2005’. That may seem like a lot but it is actually a 10 percent decrease from the number of alcohol related fatalities between 1996-2001.…

    • 1046 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    drivers ed essay paper

    • 574 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Drinking and drinving is a very serious issue in the "driving world" Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for U.S. teens.In 2010, 1 to every seven teens ages 16 to 19 died every day from motor vehicle injuries. Per mile driven, teen drivers ages 16 to 19 are three times more likely than drivers aged 20 and older to be in a fatal crash. All of this preventable! In 2010 about 2,700 teens in the United States aged 16–19 were killed and almost 282,000 were treated and released from emergency departments for injuries suffered in motor-vehicle crashes, Wow! In a recent year, people aged 16 to 24 were involved in 28 percent of all alcohol-related driving accidents, although they make up only 14% of the U.S. population.Young people are also over-represented in drinking driver injuries and deaths.Fortunately, driving accidents have been declining among young people, just as they have among the general population. And deaths associated with young drinking drivers (those 16 to 24 years of age) are down dramatically, having dropped 47% in a recent 15-year period.…

    • 574 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Best Essays

    Dui Deterrence

    • 2584 Words
    • 11 Pages

    “Have one drink for the road” was, until recently, a commonly used phrase in American culture. It has only been within the past 20 years that as a nation, we have begun to recognize the dangers associated with drunk driving (Sutton 463). According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, this year 519,000 people, or one person per minute, will be injured in alcohol-related accidents. 10,839 people will die in drunk-driving crashes this year – that is one death every 50 minutes. The heartbreaking part is, every injury and lost life due to driving after drinking can be prevented. Drinking while driving “accidents” are not merely “accidents.” Getting in a vehicle after consuming alcohol, which severely affects the function of the brain, is not an accident. It is lack of responsibility. Individuals that consume alcohol irresponsibly must begin to take responsibility for themselves and for other innocent drivers on the road. Unfortunately, in spite of great progress, alcohol-impaired driving remains a serious national problem that tragically affects many victims annually (Hanson). It is time that laws and consequences for drinking while driving strengthen and people begin to think twice before driving a vehicle after drinking. Individuals who make the decision to drive after consuming alcohol, not only put themselves in a dangerous situation, they also put an entire community at risk. Current laws, which are not strict or powerful enough, must be increased in order to keep our neighborhoods around the nation safe. Although many people think current drinking while driving limits and laws are strict enough, the rising number of individuals who continue to make an irresponsible decision to get behind the wheel of a vehicle after consuming alcohol, make it imperative that current legal limits, laws, and consequences for drinking while driving, be increased in order to punish drivers appropriately and help repair communities, relationships, and, most…

    • 2584 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Good Essays

    Not many have thought this, problem drunk driving is really getting big. “During the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, more than 50,000 people lost their lives each year on the nation’s public roads and highways, and more than half of the drivers killed had been drinking”(Jasper 17). “Drunken driving accidents can happen…

    • 696 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Drinking and Driving

    • 459 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Those injured and killed in drunk driving collisions are not accident victims. The crashes caused by impaired drivers involve two choices: to drink AND to drive. The injuries and deaths sustained each year by drunk driving can be prevented. Those who choose to drive while impaired, have been informed of the dangers, however, decide to ignore the harsh facts. They will eventually end up facing injury or death to themselves or, even worse, someone else. This is a reality some choose to ignore until they are forced to live or die along with the consequences.…

    • 459 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Drinking age-laws affect teen’s accident rate. (The Science Teacher 82.5 (2015):20 Student Resources in Context. Web.16 Mar.2016). Drivers older than the legal drinking age have significantly more motor vehicle crashes than those immediately below the legal drinking age. They found that compared to those just under legal drinking age, drivers at or above the age had an abrupt increase of 6% in their number of…

    • 988 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Drinking and Driving

    • 374 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Tens of millions of dollars are spent annually in court costs, rehabilitation, lost earnings, health care, and social programs all because of drinking driving accidents. This money comes directly out of the citizens' pockets in taxes and lost revenue. Transport Canada reports the minimum loss to society as a result of road accidents involving alcohol as $390,000 per fatal accidents, $310,000 per fatality, $12,000 per injury accidents, $3,600per injured victim.…

    • 374 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    During the 1960's and 70's many states lowered the legal drinking age from twenty-one to eighteen. In many of these states, documents showed a considerable increase in highway deaths of teens between the ages of eighteen and twenty-one. When the legal age was converted back to twenty-one, the states observed the number of alcohol related highway fatalities of the age group effected by the change and discovered that there was approximately a thirteen percent decrease in teenage…

    • 1084 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Minimum Legal Drinking Age

    • 2231 Words
    • 9 Pages

    Since the drinking age has been changed to 21, it has raised “tens of thousands of lives have been saved in traffic crashes alone” (Hanes). When adolescents and young adults consume alcohol and drive alcohol, it reduces their coordination and makes them more likely to take risks like driving while under the influence of alcohol. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, “5,051 drivers ages 16-20 were involved in fatal motor vehicle crashes" (Hanes). A recent study done in New Zealand confirmed that lowering the drinking age increased the number of alcohol-related crashes. The study showed that the numbers of alcohol fatalities increased among teenagers increased 12% since the law change. The age for buying alcohol was lowered to 18, from 20, in 1999. Since then there has been a debate about whether this law was effective A higher minimum drinking age would reduce crashes in very young drivers. “Teens who mix drinking and driving are more than twice as likely to be involved in a fatal crash than drivers twenty-one and older who drink” (ProQuest Staff, “At Issue: Underage Drinking”). Studies looked at the relationship between the minimum drinking age and traffic crashes. It was found that there was 58% fewer crashes associated with a higher minimum drinking age. Every time a teenager drinks, they are more likely to drink and drive resulting in traffic crashes and lowering the minimum…

    • 2231 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Drinking and Driving

    • 863 Words
    • 4 Pages

    When an impaired driver sits in front of a wheel and puts pressure onto the gas peddle, they are automatically considered in an unsafe environment, along with the other passengers and other drivers on the road. Having an abundance of alcohol in ones system creates the endorphins in your brain to act abnormally. As a result, impaired drivers are not able to make correct judgment calls which is usually the cause of most accidents, “Someone is injured in an alcohol related crash nearly every minute” (Drunk Driving Facts, par. 2). As a driver you are not only responsible for your own well being, but the others around you as well. The issue about drinking and driving has affected millions of people all over the world. It is said that more people are injured in alcohol related car crashes than any other cause.…

    • 863 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    It is a serious risk to the brain, which is still developing until twenty-one. In 2014, over 1.6 million people reported driving while drunk, or under the influence, that were between the ages of twelve and twenty (Underage Drinking). Although young adults tend to drink less frequently than adults, they often binge drink more (Underage Drinking). In fact, over 1.3 million people ages twelve through twenty reported binge drinking (Underage Drinking). Underage drinking is also responsible for more than 4,300 annual deaths, and is linked to 189,000 emergency room visits for people under age twenty-one for injuries and other conditions (Underage Drinking). Underage drinking increases the risk of physical or sexual assault, suicide or homicide, memory problems, the misuse of other drugs, and heavy drinking later on in life (Underage…

    • 1006 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Higher Drinking Age

    • 1295 Words
    • 6 Pages

    The leading cause of deaths for teens in the United States is from car accidents; 38% of all teenage deaths come from them (Noyse). Nationwide in 1996, 10, 341 people ages 15 to 24 died in fatal motor vehicle crashes and 45% of those traffic deaths (4661) were alcohol-related” (Hingson 52). Young drivers comprise of only 7% of drivers, but make up 16% of the drivers involved in alcohol-related fatal crashes (Hall). Yet, somehow there are many people who believe that the drinking age should be lowered back to eighteen. Those in favor of lowering the drinking age argue that in the past thirty years drunk driving fatalities have decreased for all age groups in the United States, and in Canada, where the age is only eighteen or nineteen they have declined just as much, therefore the drinking age does not affect the number of drunk driving fatalities. ("Should the Drinking Age Be Lowered from 21 to a Younger Age?"). Opposers of the minimum legal drinking age (MLDA) of 21 claim that this drinking age has had little or no affect on traffic fatalities in states that have adopted an…

    • 1295 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Statistics of Driving

    • 306 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Teen car crashes are preventable. Often times teens drink before they drive or while they drive which makes the vehicle they are operating at the time unsafe for them, and the other people that might be in the car with them. In 2007 twenty five percent of drivers between the ages of fifteen and twenty had a blood alcohol content of 0.08 or higher when they crashed.…

    • 306 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Edgar Synder Essay

    • 741 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Underage drinking and driving is a serious problem in our society today, and occurs all too often. There many dangers and problems that occur with underage drinking and driving that can affect everyone not just the drunk driver. Not only can the drunk driver injure or kill themselves, but they put the lives of other people in danger as well. Underage drinking and driving can ruin a young adults promising future as well as the future of others. There are serious legal ramifications for underage drinking and driving that could land an offender in jail, leave them with fines to pay, and many other penalties. With all of these dangers linked to underage drinking and driving it makes you wonder why anyone would want to attempt to drink and drive.…

    • 741 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays