Should Blood Alcohol Percentages for Drunken Driving

Be Lowered?

Driving a vehicle while under the influence of

alcohol is one of the most dangerous things you can do.

Alcohol causes varying degrees of the following side effects

in everyone who uses it; dullness of sensation, lowered

sensory motor skills, lowered reactive or reflexive motor

responses, impaired thought processes, impaired memory,

impaired judgement, sleep or sleeplessness, and in extreme

cases can cause coma and death.”(Hardcastle 1). Would

anyone want a person on the road with these side affects.

Alcoholics have even worse side affects to alcohol. Look at

the picture above. How many times have you watched the

news and seen a reporter reporting at the scene of a drinking

and driving accident like this. How sad it is to think of one

man who died in such a accident. When he realized that he

was going to die, he asked his Mother "Please take care of

my babies. Keep them together as a family!" What if that

was a family member or friend or even you? What would

you do if you lost any of these people? To lower the

number of drinking and driving death and accidents in this

country we should lower the blood alcohol percentage.

People die everyday in this country, but did you

know that “Every 30 minutes someone in this country dies

in an alcohol related crash.”(Stone 1) If we lowered the

blood alcohol level from .10 to 0.08 there would be fewer

drinking and driving accidents. People do not realize that a

blood alcohol level of .10 makes you at high risk for getting

in an accident. At this level you will have “Slowed reaction

times, impaired motor functions, recklessness and "dare

devil" behavior.”(Hardcastle 1). Lowering the blood alcohol

level would increase the safety of driving. Less people

would be drinking and driving and more people’s lives

would be saved. If this law is passed you would still be able

to drink. Stone states that “A average 170 pound male must

consume four drinks in one hour to and the average 137

pound female must consume three drinks in one hour to

reach 0.08, according to the U.S. Department of

Transpiration.”(1). This is not at all bad. People can still go

out and have a few drinks with their friends and still be able

to drive. This law is not to stop drinking , it is to make our

roads safer, so that their are less drinking accidents.

Lowering the blood alcohol level would make a safer

driving experience for everyone on the road. It would make

people think before they drank one extra drink. Just think if

it was you who was hit by a drunk driver or your family. Do

you want to go through the emotional pain of losing

someone?

If the blood alcohol level is lowered from 0.10 to

0.08 it would have higher consequences on there person

charged for a DWI ticket. The offender would have to go to

classes and pay a higher fine for the crime. If the drunk

driver killed someone the time in jail would be around 8

years and 11 months. If the blood alcohol level was lowered

these would be the new consequences “Prevention measures

evaluated include license suspension or revocation,

impounding or confiscating vehicle plates, enforcing open

container bans, increasing penalties such as fines or jail for

drunk driving, mandating education for young

people.”(Hardcastle 4).

Opponents of the issue tend to appeal the counter

argument. Opponents feel that lowering the blood alcohol

level not change the number of death and drinking and

driving accidents. They feel that no one person will care.

The drinkers will still go out and become intoxicated

because it is not the blood alcohol level they are thinking

about it’s having a good time.

If these people who drink and drive have higher

consequences with lowering the blood alcohol level they will

think before they drive. An example of a higher consequence

would be that if a person got convicted of drinking and

driving he or she would have to spend time in jail no matter

what the charge. Lowering the blood alcohol level to 0.08

will increase the consequences and the offender will learn

after the first offence not after three of four. This will save

people lives and lower the drinking related accidents.

Police may now wait outside bars to arrest people

getting into their cars and driving away intoxicated. This

consequence may be seen as unreasonable, but these

consequences might safe your son or daughter. Higher

consequences along with lowering the blood alcohol level

will enforce the safety and may save a person you love.

Lowering the blood alcohol level will get some drunk drives

off the street and when they do become involved in an

accident they will pay the consequences.

Opponents feel that more people will become

mad about the consequences and lowering the level and go

out and drink more. They feel that police waiting outside the

bar is unreasonable and that it is taking this way to far.

Berman state “This legislature blackmail has one hitch: It

won’t work It does not address the cause of our nations

drunk driving problem-alcohol abuser who drive.”(2).

Berman is saying that it is not stopping drunk driving but

that it is only trying to alcohol abusers.

The opponents side does make a creditable

argument, but they would feel totally different if it happened

to them or a loved one. Opponents do not understand it’s

not the drinking we are trying to stop it is the death or

people we are trying to stop. Opponents will never

understand the impact that lowering the blood alcohol level

will have only families and our society. Opponents do not

see the changes it can have on a person. In conclusion the

blood alcohol level should be lowered. It will reduce the

number of deaths and help keep the roads safe. This step in

society will impact the whole country and will thereby

define what is legal and reasonable drinking. Lowering the

blood alcohol level might not change how people drink but

it may in fact safe their life. People will never understand the

devastating effects it will have on a person until they lose

someone they love.

Bibliography

Berman, Rick. “Should Blood Alcohol Percentages for Drunk Driving Be Lowered?.”

Reading and Writing Short Arguments. Ed. William Vesterman. California, Mountain

View:, 2000. 48-50.

HardCastle, John. “Impacts of Drinking and Driving.” (1999): Abstract. 4 Dec. 2000

. 1-4.

Stone Lee, Judith. “Should Blood Alcohol Percentages for Drunk Driving Be Lowered?.”

Reading and Writing Short Arguments. Ed. William Vesterman. California, Mountain

View:, 2000. 46-47.

Word Count: 1050