Society’s Response to the Problem: Destructive and Dehumanizing

In the United States alone, over thirteen thousand people die every year from driving drunk. Countless more are injured as a result of this carelessness. It hurts to think that anyone would willingly do such a thing. In reality, nobody wants to be a drunk driver. Nobody wants to risk their own and everyone else’s lives. Nobody wants to be part of the problem, yet tens of thousands of people are anyway. I was shocked when I found out my father was one of them. This was especially shocking to me because I knew how careful and wise my dad was. But alcohol would do something to his brain that insisted that he drive home himself. Thankfully, one night he was pulled over, arrested, and sent to rehabilitation where he escaped his addiction. To this day he has remained sober and leads an addiction recovery group at our church. Without this kind of support, nobody escapes drunk driving, and yet these programs are seen as burdensome, restricting, and a waste of time. This societal view of these programs has only exacerbated the problem, and drunk driving still rages on taking thousands of lives every year. Drunk driving is a greater threat than many realize because of the specific impacts alcohol has on your confidence and the societal view of alcoholism and recovery programs.

The chemical impacts alcohol has on your brain are diverse. It reduces cognitive ability, reaction times, and muscle coordination. These effects are usually what people cite as the most dangerous effects of alcohol on your driving. The lesser known impact is also a feeling of confidence and poorer judgment. A combination of these effects leads to individuals choosing to drive home even while knowing they are drunk. According to studies, “Alcohol also directly impacts the part of the brain associated with good judgment. This reduces your inhibitions and fears, making you more likely to make an impulsive decision without thinking things through.” A person who is under the influence of alcohol is unable to understand the consequences getting behind the wheel could have. A friend of mine was driving into town when someone swerved out in front of her and they collided at a dangerously high velocity. Miraculously, the only damage was a broken foot, and one passenger bruised her clavicle from the seatbelt. It was later discovered that this individual was driving under the influence of drugs. This individual was likely unable to comprehend that this would probably happen as a result of getting behind the wheel. This is the same way my dad felt every time he decided to drive home. Everyone in my family would remind him that he shouldn’t drive home, and the dangers that his behavior posed. But as soon as alcohol was in his system, all of those thoughts went out the window. It took a year of rehabilitation to fix this way of thinking. Now, he volunteers and leads a Cocaine Anonymous group at our church. He knows how dangerous driving under the influence is, and now is committed to saving others from the very mindset he used to fall victim to. As a society, we shun those who drive drunk, and tell them they should know better, without caring enough to try to bring them away from those problems.

We have failed as a society. The impact of putting ourselves above those who drive drunk are twofold: firstly, we destroy our willingness to help them, and secondly, we make them feel isolated, and that they need to be the ones to overcome this problem alone. These tens of thousands of deaths are preventable, but that responsibility falls not only on the drunk driver, but the communities that dehumanize and destroy their willingness to find help. The truth is, nobody wants to be a drunk driver. Alcoholism is a prison that can hold anyone hostage. Even being forced to attend rehabilitation after getting arrested is sometimes not enough. A caring friend or family member needs to reach out and recommend them to attend a recovery group of their own will. The alcoholic needs to know he isn’t fighting this battle alone, because if he fights alone he will lose every single time.

Many people will assume that once someone has become a drunk driver, that they are too far into the problem to save without being forced by the government. After all, if the alcoholic is already trying to escape himself, what more could I do to help him? It is this very mindset that keeps thousands of alcoholics from escaping their addiction. We need to remind them that they are not alone, and that it is possible to recover from alcoholism. The tens of thousands of deaths and injuries fall not only on the drivers, but also all of us as a result of our lack of compassion towards those who need it most. Assuming that we are helpless to fight drunk driving is what empowers it to take as many lives as it does.

The effects of drinking alcohol on your brain are only part of the cause of drunk driving deaths. We have a responsibility to protect our drivers by reducing the number of drunk drivers on the road. I myself fell into this very camp of people who assumed a position of helplessness. Once we realize that alcoholics are unable to stop themselves without our help, it is easy to see that it is also our job to stop death from drunk driving. It is astounding to think how many people lie awake at night feeling helpless of their drunk driving problem because we ourselves shun those same individuals, taking away their very humanity and pushing them away from the salvation they desperately need.