Teenage Drunk Driving
In 1998, almost 16,000 people died in alcohol-related accidents (Drunk Driving). Drinking and driving is a very dangerous thing to be doing on the road. Cops use machines which are called checkpoints and pull you over to see if you are sober. Checkpoints are put in use very well because it cuts back more than half of drunk driving deaths. But, almost every person that is drunk will get off very easily in the United States. Among all the countries, The United States has the least strict punishments for drunk driving. If you don’t have a blood content that is higher than .08 you should face tougher consequences.
Some police stations may know that the person is drunk but still use a thing called a breathalyzer. It is another object used to see if you are drunk. “Those who challenged the breathalyzers said that if they were going to be convicted based on the devices, their manufacturers would have to reveal their computer source codes (programming language)” (Update: Drunk Driving). A drug that scientist say makes your brain dull is a depressant (Drunk Driving).
The more teenagers or people keep drinking they begin to slur their words, walk clumsy, and make wrong decisions. Drinking heavily can really harm your mental and physical well-being. In one single year 522 children under the age of 14 were arrested for drunk driving, and 113 of them were under the age of 10. Young teen boys first try alcohol at age 11 and girls first try alcohol at age 13. At night time the odds of getting into alcohol related accidents increase dramatically (Drunk driving). Every state should be able to pass drunk-driving legislation to meet residents' particular needs and preferences, Republicans say” (Drunk Driving).
Spectators say that the government is basing deaths off drunken deaths but there are still people dying from traffic deaths. According to the CDC 4141 children were killed as passengers caused by drinking and driving in 2005 (Update Drunk Driving). The supporter group MADD says that if the government lowers the BAC (blood alcohol content) rate it will prevent hundreds of alcohol related deaths each year (Drunk Driving World of Health).
Drinking alcohol and driving is against the law. It makes unnecessary deaths. It also kills innocent people and children that have done nothing wrong. When drinking and driving a person is putting themselves at a very high risk of being put in jail. People are putting their life at risk, their children at risk, and anything else that they might lose. Drinking and driving doesn’t only kill others, they can kill themselves to. By being drunk while driving they are going past the state law blood content level which is .08. It should be lowered to a small number to protect not only themself but the world around them. When they drink and drive they are the one who is putting all the bad stuff on themself. They can’t blame any of the consequences on others because they are the one who got drunk and drove (Drunk Driving).
The American Beverage Institute (ABI) quoted a study in the New England Journal of Medicine that found that driving while on a cell phone is just as dangerous as drinking and driving. They believe that lowering the Blood Alcohol content would make criminals out of drunk drivers who are less dangerous than drivers using cell phones. They also say that lowering the blood alcohol level would hurt business of restaurants and bars because not very many people would come in and buy alcohol. The beverage industry states that those states that have lowered the blood alcohol content level have only seen a small decrease in traffic deaths. Those opposed to lowering blood alcohol levels also feel that it would require more police officers to be hired which would cost the government more money to hire cops and get them out on the road. The states would have to put up more road blocks and do more random breath testing to catch drunk drivers and that would cost more money (Drunk Driving).
Drinking and Driving is a very bad thing to do in our world. It can kill their friends, their family, and it can put a real impact on their life if someone they don’t know dies but was a great person in this world. We don’t want that to happen. We need to stop drinking and driving by lowering the blood content level to .06 or .04. Join groups that help stop drunk driving like MADD. Any mother out there can lose their child any second of the day so join MADD and help stop drunk drivers. The states should still lower the blood content level even if it costs more money.
Drunk Driving." Issues & Controversies On File: n. pag. Issues & Controversies. Facts On File News Services, 27 June 2005. Web. 26 Sept. 2010. <http://www.2facts.com/article/i0401840>.
"Drunk Driving." Issues & Controversies On File: n. pag. Issues & Controversies. Facts On File News Services, 27 June 2005. Web. 4 Oct. 2010. <http://www.2facts.com/article/i0401840>.
Drunk driving." World of Health. Gale, 2007. Gale Student Resources In Context. Web. 23 Sept. 2010.
"Update: Drunk Driving." Issues & Controversies On File: n. pag. Issues & Controversies. Facts On File News Services, 21 Sept. 2007. Web. 28 Sept. 2010. <http://www.2facts.com/article/i1200500>.
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