Mothers Against Drunk Driving
Each day, people drive drunk more than 300,000 times, but only about 3200 are arrested (Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2014). Could people only imagine to what extent drunk driving is irresponsible and destructive nowadays. According to the president of Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) organization, which was created to fight with this phenomena, “drunk driving continues to be the most frequently committed violent crime” (Hamilton, 2000). Indeed, it is a real crime, which has to be punished and prevented as much as it is possible. Unfortunately, people do not understand the hazardous consequences of drunk driving being not in the charge of their activities. In addition, it is worth mentioning that drunk drivers usually break other’s people
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lives too. In the conditions of mankind developing, the fact of dying because of alcohol seems to be unreasonable at all. Thus, this very problem has to be considered as the serious one, which requires more attention from public and government authorities. In this essay, there would be described three possible solutions, which could help to some extent solve the problem of drunk driving. Nowadays it is very difficult to reduce alcohol consumption in our society. Alcohol is used a lot as people think it helps to relax, to be more confident, and just to put brain into the mode “is not available”. Alcohol is a factor that can have a direct effect on the human’s brain. Actually, alcohol is a motivator to the abuse but the more terrible thing is that it forces people to be involved in car accidents. Generally, drunk driving is the act when person operates a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol to the degree that motor skills are impaired. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) also informs that drunk driving has become a worldwide problem approximately three decades ago (2012). According to statistics, 9,878 people died in drunk driving accidents in 2011 (NHTSA, 2012). In other words, in average one alcohol-related crash occurred every 53 minutes. It is frequently believed that drunk driving is caused by people’s irresponsibility and self-confidence. An impaired driver is not in the right balanced state of mind to understand what is going on. Also, the driver’s reaction to sudden hazards is slower and not so effective, as it can be in a normal condition (Evans et al., 2005). When people are drunk, they can make unpredictable actions with different, usually terrible consequences. Hence, the main issue is that not only drivers who are under the influence of alcohol can have serious injuries or even die, but also passengers and pedestrians may be involved in car crashes and have the same consequences. Thus, mixing drinking and driving may be mortally dangerous for all road users. According to survey of 178 countries, it has been shown that from 30 to 40 percent of all road crashes are caused by alcohol abuse (Lee, 2010). According to the New York Times, president of the United States Ronald Reagan said “the problem of drunk driving is … a grave national problem, and it touches all of our lives” (as cited in Toomey, Nelson, & Lenk., 2009). In other words, this problem is important in terms of people’s safety, which is one of the most essential values. Due to the high rate of drunk driving accidents, there are several measures that the government should take to make sure that it does not happen again with a lot of people, such as prohibiting driving before 21, lowering blood alcohol concentration (BAC) level, and establishing more severe penalties. The first possible solution that can be proposed is to prohibit driving for young people who are under the 21 years.
Regardless of whether driver is impaired or sober, one can have a car crash. However, old drivers are less likely to be involved in traffic crashes, including alcohol-involved crashes than younger drivers (Evans et al., 2005). It could be explained by young drivers’ little driving experience and tendency to risk or drink alcohol. As Smithers (2007) states drivers aged 35 to 49 are 14 times less likely to be involved in a drunk driving incidents than the 17 to 19 age group. In another study it is shown that 35% of alcohol-related accidents in 2005 involved young drivers (Smithers, 2007). These statistics demonstrate that young people are likely to be involved in car accidents because of being drunk. In addition, it is also followed by usual youth desire to have more freedom by driving. Becoming a driver is a turning point of adulthood in every young person’s life. They tend to celebrate, hang out with each other and, eventually, drink alcohol. In addition, it was declared that people who are under the age of 21 are more likely to feel themselves irresponsible and overconfident, since their neurological system can be badly affected by the overuse of alcohol (U. S. Department of Justice, 2012). Therefore, reconsidering of the driving age to 21 years old should be applied as a restrictive and preventive …show more content…
tool. The one possible advantage of this solution is that car accidents among young people could be prevented to some extent. It could be claimed that at the age of 21 people usually graduate from the universities and start working. It increases the responsibility of young people. Therefore, this solution could be evaluated as feasible and efficient one. The solution will be implemented as a law for resolving the drunk driving problem. In addition, if the government of any country agrees to implement such laws, it will be fully legal. For example, United States started to deal with this problem by establishing the law which prohibited driving up to 21 years. The research showed that after this law’s enactment alcohol-related traffic crashes among 18-20 year-olds people dramatically decreased in Michigan (Toomey et al., 2009). In addition, Toomey et al. (2009) stated that alcohol consumption among 19-20 year-olds people decreased when the drinking age increased up to 21, which is also a beneficial aspect. Thus, in terms of legality and feasibility this solution is acceptable. However, one cannot deny that prohibiting driving before 21 does not have at least one disadvantage. The greatest disadvantage of this solution is humans’ rights infringement. Many campaigns, such as Choose Responsibility (CR), were formed in the United States, in order to fight for people’s rights, to fix the law which did not allow people to drive before age of 21 (Toomey et al., 2009). Moreover, it is not fair to put restriction on whole people because of those, who drink and break laws. As it was mentioned before, the majority of young people start working before reaching 21. Therefore, they usually need private transport to go to work or even colleges. This practice could be easily seen in US, where the distances between small towns and cities are big, and no public transport is available in some of these areas. Therefore, the public is likely not to accept such reform, even if it is for their sake. In terms of long-term effects, it is worth mentioning that reconsidering and implementing such law would take much time. Firstly, it would deal with public surveys, which are directed at determining people’s opinion. Actually, it is clear that 16-17 years old teenagers would strongly disagree with such reform, because it affects them firstly. In addition, respective courses for license obtaining have to be reconstructed according to new standards. All of it does not allow hiding possible public concerns and disadvantages of the first solution proposed. Indeed, despite the fact that it is directed at decreasing the rate of drunk driving accidents, it would not be supported by public, especially young one. However, it is important to understand that this very solution is likely to encourage young generation to reject drinking while driving and, potentially, increase the general sense among them. The second possible solution for the issue will be to lower Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) level in countries, where a certain amount of alcohol in blood is allowed by its law. BAC levels represent “the percent of blood that is concentrated with alcohol” (AwareAwaleAlive, n.d). It is a well-known fact that alcohol immediately enters the bloodstream as soon as it reaches the stomach. Then it affects the central nervous system and encourages people to make inappropriate actions. Thus, impaired drivers’ reaction may be decreased by up to 10%-30% (Evans et al., 2005). This solution could be carried out by gradual BAC testing places positioning, especially near the places such as night clubs, restaurants, pubs etc. On these places there could be conducted random breath tests on drivers, even if they do not seem impaired. People who exceed BAC level are less likely to sit behind the wheel because they will fear to be caught by the police. The research showed that this method of struggling with this complex problem is very effective (Evans et al., 2005). However, it is clear that such practice might seem to be not ethical, or even human rights violating, because generally it is not acceptable to conduct such testing without appropriate permission. Nevertheless, it is likely to demonstrate people, that the possibility of being caught by police is higher. To sum up, the possible advantage is that lowering BAC level may contribute to decline of road traffic crashes, as it could be seen in the United States, Australia, and New South Wales (Albalate, 2006). For example, alcohol-related crashes declined by 18% in the Australia and by 8% in the New South Wales (Stewart, 2013). Thus, this solution is feasible enough. On the other hand, implementation of maximum permissible BAC level is time consuming. For example, conducting random breath testing in some countries with a large number of people, such as France, Germany, USA, may take a lot of time to reach at least small decline in the number of drunk driving incidents. Finally, the third solution is to establish more severe penalties for drivers who are under the influence of alcohol.
The fact remains that the most significant measure which can prevent each crime is a stiff law. According to Kenkel and Koch (2001), a lot of new state laws have raised up the certainty and severity of punishment for drunk driving. It could be carried out by increasing fines, which can contribute to the decline of fatal car accidents. For example, according to UK drink-driving penalties, if a person is above the legal limit or unfit through drink, he or she might get 6 months’ imprisonment or driving band for at least one year. The same happens if a person declines to be tested on BAC. (Gov.UK, 2016). More strict penalties are given if drunk driving caused death of other people. This practice should be considered as a preventive or, if needed, deterring tool, which is likely to decrease the rate of
drunk-driving. The greatest advantage is that most of alcohol-related crashes can be prevented by setting such severe penalties. Furthermore, one should not forget that offenders’ payment for fines directly goes to state’s treasury. Therefore, it can be very useful for the government to increase fines in order to supplement budget of the country. Another good thing about this solution is drivers’ knowledge about the law. According to Kenkel and Koch (2001), when people were surveyed about drunk driving laws, only half of the respondents gave the correct answer, while others gave the wrong one or even did not know what to answer. Knowledge of the law may make people think that it is worth driving under the influence of alcohol since punishment can be very stiff. In addition, it is fully legal and ethical at the same time, because it would be done for sake of the public. On the other hand, the greatest disadvantage is that creation of more severe penalties can serve the huge way of corruption. Therefore, it can be more convenient for impaired drivers to give a bribe than being imprisoned for several years. In addition, the majority of people might still believe, that they would not be caught and continue drunk driving until any accidents take place. Nevertheless, one should accept that establishing stiff penalties, such as sending people to the jail, raising fines up, and revocation of driving license may prevent fatal car crashes or at least deter people from drinking while driving. To draw the conclusion, one can say that drunk driving has been a problem for a long time. Drunk driving is not a separate issue. Conversely, it is a complex problem which contains very different dimensions. So, it can be said that prohibiting driving up to age of 21 is a very effective method to address this promotion. Research demonstrated that states, which did not allow people to drive before 21, have seen a dramatic decline of road traffic crashes. Also, it is suggested to lower BAC level in countries, where a certain amount of alcohol is permitted by its law, since it can also reduce the number of alcohol-related incidents. Finally, establishing more severe penalties for drunk drivers seems to be the strongest solution, as it is likely to prevent possible accidents or, at least, to strictly punish those, who have committed this “drinking” crime. Drunk drivers break not only their lives, other’s people lives too, and that is why this problem has to be solved and should be taken into the government’s consideration. By implementing these three possible solutions people can achieve better results in struggling with this nonvanishing problem.
lives too. In the conditions of mankind developing, the fact of dying because of alcohol seems to be unreasonable at all. Thus, this very problem has to be considered as the serious one, which requires more attention from public and government authorities. In this essay, there would be described three possible solutions, which could help to some extent solve the problem of drunk driving. Nowadays it is very difficult to reduce alcohol consumption in our society. Alcohol is used a lot as people think it helps to relax, to be more confident, and just to put brain into the mode “is not available”. Alcohol is a factor that can have a direct effect on the human’s brain. Actually, alcohol is a motivator to the abuse but the more terrible thing is that it forces people to be involved in car accidents. Generally, drunk driving is the act when person operates a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol to the degree that motor skills are impaired. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) also informs that drunk driving has become a worldwide problem approximately three decades ago (2012). According to statistics, 9,878 people died in drunk driving accidents in 2011 (NHTSA, 2012). In other words, in average one alcohol-related crash occurred every 53 minutes. It is frequently believed that drunk driving is caused by people’s irresponsibility and self-confidence. An impaired driver is not in the right balanced state of mind to understand what is going on. Also, the driver’s reaction to sudden hazards is slower and not so effective, as it can be in a normal condition (Evans et al., 2005). When people are drunk, they can make unpredictable actions with different, usually terrible consequences. Hence, the main issue is that not only drivers who are under the influence of alcohol can have serious injuries or even die, but also passengers and pedestrians may be involved in car crashes and have the same consequences. Thus, mixing drinking and driving may be mortally dangerous for all road users. According to survey of 178 countries, it has been shown that from 30 to 40 percent of all road crashes are caused by alcohol abuse (Lee, 2010). According to the New York Times, president of the United States Ronald Reagan said “the problem of drunk driving is … a grave national problem, and it touches all of our lives” (as cited in Toomey, Nelson, & Lenk., 2009). In other words, this problem is important in terms of people’s safety, which is one of the most essential values. Due to the high rate of drunk driving accidents, there are several measures that the government should take to make sure that it does not happen again with a lot of people, such as prohibiting driving before 21, lowering blood alcohol concentration (BAC) level, and establishing more severe penalties. The first possible solution that can be proposed is to prohibit driving for young people who are under the 21 years.
Regardless of whether driver is impaired or sober, one can have a car crash. However, old drivers are less likely to be involved in traffic crashes, including alcohol-involved crashes than younger drivers (Evans et al., 2005). It could be explained by young drivers’ little driving experience and tendency to risk or drink alcohol. As Smithers (2007) states drivers aged 35 to 49 are 14 times less likely to be involved in a drunk driving incidents than the 17 to 19 age group. In another study it is shown that 35% of alcohol-related accidents in 2005 involved young drivers (Smithers, 2007). These statistics demonstrate that young people are likely to be involved in car accidents because of being drunk. In addition, it is also followed by usual youth desire to have more freedom by driving. Becoming a driver is a turning point of adulthood in every young person’s life. They tend to celebrate, hang out with each other and, eventually, drink alcohol. In addition, it was declared that people who are under the age of 21 are more likely to feel themselves irresponsible and overconfident, since their neurological system can be badly affected by the overuse of alcohol (U. S. Department of Justice, 2012). Therefore, reconsidering of the driving age to 21 years old should be applied as a restrictive and preventive …show more content…
tool. The one possible advantage of this solution is that car accidents among young people could be prevented to some extent. It could be claimed that at the age of 21 people usually graduate from the universities and start working. It increases the responsibility of young people. Therefore, this solution could be evaluated as feasible and efficient one. The solution will be implemented as a law for resolving the drunk driving problem. In addition, if the government of any country agrees to implement such laws, it will be fully legal. For example, United States started to deal with this problem by establishing the law which prohibited driving up to 21 years. The research showed that after this law’s enactment alcohol-related traffic crashes among 18-20 year-olds people dramatically decreased in Michigan (Toomey et al., 2009). In addition, Toomey et al. (2009) stated that alcohol consumption among 19-20 year-olds people decreased when the drinking age increased up to 21, which is also a beneficial aspect. Thus, in terms of legality and feasibility this solution is acceptable. However, one cannot deny that prohibiting driving before 21 does not have at least one disadvantage. The greatest disadvantage of this solution is humans’ rights infringement. Many campaigns, such as Choose Responsibility (CR), were formed in the United States, in order to fight for people’s rights, to fix the law which did not allow people to drive before age of 21 (Toomey et al., 2009). Moreover, it is not fair to put restriction on whole people because of those, who drink and break laws. As it was mentioned before, the majority of young people start working before reaching 21. Therefore, they usually need private transport to go to work or even colleges. This practice could be easily seen in US, where the distances between small towns and cities are big, and no public transport is available in some of these areas. Therefore, the public is likely not to accept such reform, even if it is for their sake. In terms of long-term effects, it is worth mentioning that reconsidering and implementing such law would take much time. Firstly, it would deal with public surveys, which are directed at determining people’s opinion. Actually, it is clear that 16-17 years old teenagers would strongly disagree with such reform, because it affects them firstly. In addition, respective courses for license obtaining have to be reconstructed according to new standards. All of it does not allow hiding possible public concerns and disadvantages of the first solution proposed. Indeed, despite the fact that it is directed at decreasing the rate of drunk driving accidents, it would not be supported by public, especially young one. However, it is important to understand that this very solution is likely to encourage young generation to reject drinking while driving and, potentially, increase the general sense among them. The second possible solution for the issue will be to lower Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) level in countries, where a certain amount of alcohol in blood is allowed by its law. BAC levels represent “the percent of blood that is concentrated with alcohol” (AwareAwaleAlive, n.d). It is a well-known fact that alcohol immediately enters the bloodstream as soon as it reaches the stomach. Then it affects the central nervous system and encourages people to make inappropriate actions. Thus, impaired drivers’ reaction may be decreased by up to 10%-30% (Evans et al., 2005). This solution could be carried out by gradual BAC testing places positioning, especially near the places such as night clubs, restaurants, pubs etc. On these places there could be conducted random breath tests on drivers, even if they do not seem impaired. People who exceed BAC level are less likely to sit behind the wheel because they will fear to be caught by the police. The research showed that this method of struggling with this complex problem is very effective (Evans et al., 2005). However, it is clear that such practice might seem to be not ethical, or even human rights violating, because generally it is not acceptable to conduct such testing without appropriate permission. Nevertheless, it is likely to demonstrate people, that the possibility of being caught by police is higher. To sum up, the possible advantage is that lowering BAC level may contribute to decline of road traffic crashes, as it could be seen in the United States, Australia, and New South Wales (Albalate, 2006). For example, alcohol-related crashes declined by 18% in the Australia and by 8% in the New South Wales (Stewart, 2013). Thus, this solution is feasible enough. On the other hand, implementation of maximum permissible BAC level is time consuming. For example, conducting random breath testing in some countries with a large number of people, such as France, Germany, USA, may take a lot of time to reach at least small decline in the number of drunk driving incidents. Finally, the third solution is to establish more severe penalties for drivers who are under the influence of alcohol.
The fact remains that the most significant measure which can prevent each crime is a stiff law. According to Kenkel and Koch (2001), a lot of new state laws have raised up the certainty and severity of punishment for drunk driving. It could be carried out by increasing fines, which can contribute to the decline of fatal car accidents. For example, according to UK drink-driving penalties, if a person is above the legal limit or unfit through drink, he or she might get 6 months’ imprisonment or driving band for at least one year. The same happens if a person declines to be tested on BAC. (Gov.UK, 2016). More strict penalties are given if drunk driving caused death of other people. This practice should be considered as a preventive or, if needed, deterring tool, which is likely to decrease the rate of
drunk-driving. The greatest advantage is that most of alcohol-related crashes can be prevented by setting such severe penalties. Furthermore, one should not forget that offenders’ payment for fines directly goes to state’s treasury. Therefore, it can be very useful for the government to increase fines in order to supplement budget of the country. Another good thing about this solution is drivers’ knowledge about the law. According to Kenkel and Koch (2001), when people were surveyed about drunk driving laws, only half of the respondents gave the correct answer, while others gave the wrong one or even did not know what to answer. Knowledge of the law may make people think that it is worth driving under the influence of alcohol since punishment can be very stiff. In addition, it is fully legal and ethical at the same time, because it would be done for sake of the public. On the other hand, the greatest disadvantage is that creation of more severe penalties can serve the huge way of corruption. Therefore, it can be more convenient for impaired drivers to give a bribe than being imprisoned for several years. In addition, the majority of people might still believe, that they would not be caught and continue drunk driving until any accidents take place. Nevertheless, one should accept that establishing stiff penalties, such as sending people to the jail, raising fines up, and revocation of driving license may prevent fatal car crashes or at least deter people from drinking while driving. To draw the conclusion, one can say that drunk driving has been a problem for a long time. Drunk driving is not a separate issue. Conversely, it is a complex problem which contains very different dimensions. So, it can be said that prohibiting driving up to age of 21 is a very effective method to address this promotion. Research demonstrated that states, which did not allow people to drive before 21, have seen a dramatic decline of road traffic crashes. Also, it is suggested to lower BAC level in countries, where a certain amount of alcohol is permitted by its law, since it can also reduce the number of alcohol-related incidents. Finally, establishing more severe penalties for drunk drivers seems to be the strongest solution, as it is likely to prevent possible accidents or, at least, to strictly punish those, who have committed this “drinking” crime. Drunk drivers break not only their lives, other’s people lives too, and that is why this problem has to be solved and should be taken into the government’s consideration. By implementing these three possible solutions people can achieve better results in struggling with this nonvanishing problem.