Cause and Effect Essay on:

Drunk Driving

Winde Rovira

Driving a vehicle while under the influence of alcohol is one of the most dangerous things you can do. There is a mass of research evidence to show that driving performance and reaction times are seriously affected by alcohol. Our law in Georgia states, that it is illegal to operate a motor vehicle if your blood alcohol concentration (BAC) exceeds .10%. Georgia observes a "per se" law. (Craft)

If you drink and drive, you are not only a danger to yourself but also to your passenger, other road users and pedestrians. In fact, every 30 minutes, someone in this country dies in alcohol-related crash. Every 30 minutes! And last year alone more than one million people are injured in alcohol-related traffic crashes. Alcohol is a depressant that slows down body reactions and the working of the brain. Each year drunk driving is responsible for about 25% of these deaths. The risks of drinking are alcohol-related accidents and violence. The effects of alcohol are poor coordination and slurred speech, double vision, decrease of self-control loss of consciousness and death.

There are legal consequences due to drinking also. The more a person drinks, the more their ability to make important decisions becomes impaired. After just one drink, a driver can lose their ability to perform the tasks necessary to drive a car. At a certain point, a driver will become illegally intoxicated and can be arrested for attempting to operate a motor vehicle. In every state on out country there is a legal limit to how much alcohol you can have in your body if you are driving. If you drink and drive you can lose your driver's license and even go to jail.

Traffic crashes are the leading cause of death for teens and young adults. More than 5,000 young people die every year in car crashes and thousands more are injured. Drivers who are 16 years old are more than 20 times as likely to have a crash, as are other drivers. There are two main reasons why teens are at a higher for being in a car crash and lack of driving experience and their tendency to take risks while driving. Teens drive faster and do not control the car as well as more experienced drivers. Their judgment in traffic is often insufficient to avoid a crash. In addition, teens do most of their driving at night, which can be even more difficult. Standard driver's education classes include 30 hours of classroom teaching and 6 hours of behind-the-wheel training. This is not enough time to fully train a new driver. Teen drivers are more like to be influence by peers and other stresses and distractions. This can lead to reckless driving behaviors such as speeding, driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol, and not wearing safety belts. There is no safe amount that you can drink and still drive. Even one drink can influence your driving offences. Nowadays, drunk driving has become driving while intoxicated, driving while impaired, driving while under the influence, operating while under the influence (impaired, intoxicated, or whatever), and in many states, one can be convicted of DUI even though the police didn't even see you drive. (JMD) It is often too late by the time they seek help. They face losing their license; having embarrassing court appearances, press coverage and heavy fines.

Many are just ordinary people who have a few social drinks, get behind the wheel and then get pulled over by the police. Such as Henri Paul that thought he was not too drunk to drive. However, evidence proves otherwise in this report that states, French pathologists drew five separate samples: blood from directly above the heart; also urine, eye fluid, bile and hair. These showed:

a. A blood-alcohol level of about 180 milligrams per 100 mil. equivalent to eight or nine scotch whiskies, which is three times over the legal limit in France.

b. A little over 20% carboxyhemoglobin, which is inhaled carbon monoxide.

c. Traces of two drugs, the antidepressant Prozac and Tiapridal, a drug used to treat alcohol addiction; the Prozac taken regularly since May that year, and the Tiapridal since July.

So try to manage your life so that you do not drink and drive. If you go out for a drink, try to go somewhere that you can reach either on foot or by public transportation. Think about sharing the driving on different days with a group of people so that you can take turns at driving. If you do drink even though you meant not to, and you went out with your vehicle, consider taking a taxi or take a Saferide home and leave your vehicle behind.(Saferide) This is a whole lot cheaper than getting prosecuted!

Work Cites

Craft, Stephen. Interview with Winde Rovira. Attorney at Law licensed in Georgia and Alabama. 8 March 2000

Saferide. http://www.baddpage.com/saferide.html

JMD. DUI Help Website (2000) - all rights reserved by jmd-ent.com http://www.dui-help.com/index1.html

Bartram, John. The Mysteries Surrounding Princess Diana s Death

http://dianaconspiracy.homepage.com/