Drunk driving has become such an epidemic to communities and if something does not change, more and more people will become affected. Under the influence of alcohol is not a problem as long as you keep it under control, but once you decided to put the key in the engine is a big problem.
Drunken drivers are not just putting themselves at risk they are putting innocent people in serious danger. Nearly 10,000 road deaths each year or about a third of all traffic deaths are caused by drunk drivers. Bars are starting to become more responsible of people who have been drinking and then before. In 2012, nearly 3.3 million deaths or 5.9 percent of all deaths nationwide were contributed to alcohol consumption. Insurance companies are getting more and more stricter because, 42% of their customers are causing the accidents that their insurance companies have to pay for. The US Treasury Secretary Lawrence summer said “alcohol cause would be among the “big three” health threats that their new task would battle” drinking can lead to multi organ failure and if not treated it can lead to death. In order to keep everyone safe on and off the road the laws of alcohol consumption need to change.
It takes about thirty minutes to two hours for alcohol to be absorbed into the bloodstream but it takes one second to end someone’s life.
Alexis McKinney was in the backseat of her boyfriend’s car who was driving “cross faded’’ which is being high and drunk at the same time. Her boyfriend was being distracted from his high and swerved into oncoming traffic and Alexis was ejected out of the car and died immediately. Never did her mom think she would bury her daughter on her 16th birthday.
Families never recover easily or quickly from these deaths. Families not only have to deal with the loss of the family member they have to deal with the medical and hospital bills, funeral expenses, criminal scene cleanup, and sometimes counseling services. Families who lost a child usually experience relationship distress. Mourning the loss of their child can separate and divide parents to a point of divorce. Children in victim families typically experience higher rates of anxiety, depression and overall stress. According to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry “children who lose a family member have difficulty processing the loss of a sibling or family member and may persist in the belief that the person will return. Symptoms of grief in children include changes in sleep habit, changes in appetite, fear of being alone, regression to earlier childhood behaviors like bed wetting, refusing to go to school etc.” The loss of a family member or sibling will be the hardest on little ones because they do not understand why they are gone they just know they aren’t there anymore and don’t understand why they aren’t coming back.
When caught drinking and driving typically have to go to jail and have to get a bail. Once bailed out there is a DUI conviction and the loss of license. First Suspension goes anywhere from 90 days to two years. Second Offense goes anywhere from a year to five years. Third offense is permanent revocation for three or more years. If a person refuses to take blood or breath test that action can lead to automatic revocation. While it is a person right to refuse a blood test, the consequences ae the same as an DUI test. The loss of someone’s license can affect their family substantially. What used to be a quick run to the grocery store turns into a fight for someone else to run a simple errand. Nearly 1.4 million people in the United States were arrested for DUI. It might seem like a DUI are a simple offense but it can affect a family physically and economically, the bills to get someone out of jail and to get their license back is not cheap. It can cause a family to have strained relationships, financial instability and potential long-term family problems.
Families have to pay tremendous amounts of money to pay for the DUI. They have legal fees, court costs, probation fees. According to Bank rate” Short-term costs for a DUI can range from $2,500 to $15,000 for first time offenders and be even higher for someone with multiple DUI arrests. These numbers do not even begin to account for other long-term cost, such as impediments to employment, budget constraints limiting a family’s ability to purchase a new home and ongoing cost for mandated treatment.” The cost of someone to drink and drive can bring down a family, or break up a family.
There is never going to be a way to keep the roads completely safe of Drunk Drivers but there might be a way to reduce the risks. Sean Murphy reports that Claire LeBlanc “is among nearly 6,000 convicted drunk drivers in Massachusetts required to use a car ignition interlock device, a technology hailed as an effective deterrent to an intractable crime.” Car ignition interlocks are installed into car to prove that the person is sober and if they aren’t there car will not start. Nearly 30 states authorized that interlock devices for all first-time offenders, while other states require interlocks for first time offenders for whose blood alcohol level exceeds the .08 national legal limit but 25% of more. Enthusiasts of difficult drunken driving laws say the breathalyzer approach supports guard against human nature, mentioning estimates that as many as 70% of drivers with suspended and revoked license continue to get behind the wheel. Numbers in the program have increased, today there are 5,883 people in the program. The interlock devices cost about $125 a month, for the drivers that receive a hardship license. The interlock devices kept about 30,000 people in the last 10 years from driving, according to MADD. Many people in the program say even though they can’t get rid of this device, it has kept them from drinking and have made their recovery a lot smoother.
Drunk driving is one of the biggest threat on the road, a person chooses to put their keys in their car even though they know they are threating other drivers on the road. One-third or 3.3 million deaths are due to drunk driver next to texting and driving that is 1.6 million deaths a year. Even though impaired driving has decreased 27 percent between 2005 and 2014, motor vehicle crashes have cost the Unites States $44 billion each year. Judges and Legislators reported that to reduce the use of drinking while driving through incarceration, ignition locks, license suspension, and vehicle impoundment. These strategies are not to have someone stop drinking all around but to keep them away from their vehicles while intoxicated. Drinking while driving typically results in mandatory arrest, with a couple nights in jail and a bail that they have to pay in order to get out. The roads are never going to be completely safe but with the new strategies the risk of deaths and crashes are going to decrease and the roads are going to be somewhat safer for the surrounding communities.
