Driving While Intoxicated
Topic: Local San Marcos Problem
Organization: Problem/Solution
Specific Purpose: I would like my audience to believe that an alcohol education class should be taken before one can receive his/her license
Introduction
I. Attention Getter: In the past decade, four times as many Americans have died in drunk driving accidents as killed in the Vietnam War (NHTSA, 2006).
II. Relevance: How close have you come to losing your life as a result of an alcohol-related accident?
III. Credibility: Recall story about my boyfriend receiving phone call that his brother, Jeremy, had been killed in a drunk driving accident.
IV. Propositional Statement: Driving while intoxicated …show more content…
remains a problem in the United States and in the city of San Marcos. Because young people do not know enough about alcohol and its effects. I propose that a mandatory course in alcohol education be required before one can receive his/her driver’s license.
Body
I.
The first part of the problem is that we continue to drive while under the influence of alcohol.
A. Drinking and driving is a problem on a national level.
1. 16,189 people were killed in alcohol related accidents in 2005. This is one death every 32 minutes (NHTSA, 2006).
2. Three in every five Americans will be involved in an alcohol-related crash at some time in his/her life (NHTSA, 2006).
B. Drinking and driving is a problem on a local level.
1. San Marco police department reported 196 arrests in 2005 related to alcohol-related crimes. Of those arrests, 67 were driving while intoxicated. (San Marcos Police Department, 2005).
2. 50% increase from arrests made in 2000 (San Marcos Police Department, 2005).
Transition: Not only is drinking and driving a major problem, young people are often very uniformed of its effects.
II. The second part of the problem is that young people do not know enough about alcohol and its dangerous effects and they received mixed messages about alcohol.
A. Young people lace an awareness of alcohol’s severe effects.
1. In 2004, 2.6 million teenagers did not know that a person could die from an alcohol overdose (Dunning, 2005).
2. Young people believe myths, not facts. (Dunning,
2005).
B. Young people receive mixed messages about alcohol and its effects.
1. Less than one in three parents of tenth grade students gave their children a clear “no-use” message about alcohol (MADD. 2004).
2. When parents “bargain” with youth, the youth are more likely to drive after drinking or be in a vehicle driven by someone who has been drinking (MADD