The Saturday night party was the place to be. Anyone who is anyone was there. John s curfew is midnight and its 12:05. Mark had been doing quite a lot of drinking and he was John s ride home. John questioned whether or not he wanted to get in the car with Mark, but thought about how mad his parents were going to be. He was already five minutes late. Saying to himself Just this one time, he decided to get in the car. John never made it home that night. Mark had rolled the car off the bridge one mile away from his house. John lost his life all because he was afraid of getting grounded. There are many situations similar to John s, and in a lot of them, no one survives. Because of all the death and tragedy as a result of driving under the influence of alcohol, I feel that there should be an increased punishment if caught.

The legal definitions of "driving" and "drunk" are open to many interpretations, which vary greatly from state to state. In some places, "driving" can include sitting still in a parked or wrecked vehicle with the motor off, or starting up a car in a driveway. Police can and do arrest people whom they believe are drunk before they get on the road and even when they've pulled off to "sleep it off," just if they're in the driver's seat. As for the definition of "drunk," there are several major factors to consider. You can be "legally impaired" as viewed by the law without ever taking a drink, if you have taken other substances like prescription drugs that affect your ability to drive. You can also be found drunk even when you can function properly in every way.

You can be found guilty of drunk driving, also called driving while intoxicated (DWI) or driving under the influence (DUI), if the state can prove that you have more then the legal limit of alcohol in your system. Even if your alcohol level is lower than the legal intoxication level, you can still be convicted if the state can show your abilities were impaired.

Blood tests measure the number of grams of alcohol per 100 milliliters of blood, and breath tests measure grams of alcohol per 210 liters of breath. In most states, you can be convicted of "drunk driving" when either level is at .10 percent or higher. I feel they should lower the level to .08 in all states. In California and Florida level of impairment is .08, why not in all states?

In Colorado and Florida, if you are pulled over for suspicion of drunk driving, it is legal for the driver to refuse to take any tests. Then they may go back in their car and drive off putting other lives at risk. There is no penalty for this and if they are taken to court there usually isn t enough evidence to convict them. Basically our laws our saying that we can drive drunk because we can just refuse the tests and everything will be fine. I feel that it is very irresponsible of our government to have and support that law. All drivers who are under the suspicion should be required to take the testing.

There are many situations where teenagers are given a choice whether or not to get in the car with a drunk driver. Some kids just do not want to get their friends in trouble, and some simply have the grand idea in their head that nothing is ever going to happen to them. Statistics say that the number one cause of death among 15-19 year olds is drinking and driving. Also, every year more then 10,000 Americans, ages 16- 24 die in alcohol related car crashes.

There is so much unnecessary tragedy associated with driving under the influence. Maybe if there were tougher laws against it, more people would choose a different solution. Perhaps if you got caught driving drunk, you would be sent to prison for putting other peoples lives in danger. I see it as attempted murder, many innocent people die as a result of being hit by a drunk driver. We need to stop them from killing, before they actually do.

In conclusion, I leave you with three questions, is this simple two-minute car ride worth dying for? Is there another option you can take before you put yours and others lives in danger? Why would you even take the risk?