Statement Of Purpose: Why People Persist To Drink And Drive

People are not binary machines but cognitive organisms, so a plethora of reasons exist for why people persist to drink and drive. Two prevalent observations exist. For teenagers, the fear of calling one’s parents for a ride due to drinking is greater than driving home drunk. My friends and I are designated drivers, and prevent as many people we possibly can from driving drunk, but I am fully aware of students who have. But another reason, universal in all ages, is the absence of facts in ones’ minds. Inebriated individuals exercise a cognitive dissonance, rejecting that alcohol lowers mental awareness and ability. Believing oneself to be “fine,” one jumps into the driver’s seat. Until any negative outcome results, people will push the limits,
and arriving home safely, any drunk individual will believe statistics and data to be wrong, and they can drive home again next time. When one is under the influence no one is thinking of other people. It is that old cliché of drunk people being the most honest, because they cannot sense how their words or actions are hurting other’s. It is harder to sense how an injury or death of a loved one harms a victim’s family, and so that is why many assume the car’s wheel. To combat this, parents have to expect their children to drink at a party, and volunteer to pick them up and drive their friends home. It’s not only the safest option but the least hypocritical, as many parents were “young and dumb” once. Uber and Lyft need to market to people who are drinking at parties, and make designated driving very common. If anything, one should develop an app for designated driving, with all the information, like address, ID, already in the app. And for the universal reason, it is a group effort, of bartenders, waiters, sober friends, and information in bars to prevent drunk drivers, and hopefully, make a real difference.