Drunk Driving: The Prominent Killer

Imagine
receiving a phone call notifying you that you have lost a loved one.
Unfortunately, this was the devastating reality for over 34,000
Americans last year, due to drunk driving. A large quantity of these
deaths were not even the people who made the decision to drive drunk.
The deaths were by innocent bystanders either forced to ride with
someone under the influence or naive to the drunk person with whom
they were sharing the road. Despite the legal blood alcohol content
being 0.08%, side effects still appear with even a 0.02% blood
alcohol level. At 0.02%, the consumer is already experiencing the
inability to stay focused on the road and their judgement is
impaired.
Recently, I was on my way home from school, stopped with my turn
signal on, waiting to turn into my neighborhood. While waiting to
turn, I looked in my rearview mirror to see a car speeding towards
me. I thought, “Surely he is going to slow down.” Before I knew
it, he was in my side mirror on a one lane road. He flew past me,
sending two trash cans soaring into the road, going into a ditch. It
was surreal; I felt as though I was in a dream. I have no doubt that
this man was under the influence of alcohol.

One
way I suspect the drunk driving rates would decrease would be better
educating people on the effects it has on your body in classes such
as Drivers ed. Teaching
people at a young age the consequences of driving under the influence
forces people to think before they get behind the wheel, potentially
saving lives. Also, some people simply do not have the finances to
pay for a cab to drive them to their desired destination. One way
this could be eliminated would be to have a government funded driving
service for drunk people to call in times of need. Although I do not
feel people should be rewarded for drinking by offering free travel
services, I feel this would be more rewarding to the innocent
bystanders they could potentially kill. Specifically for teenagers,
they likely do not want their parents to find out they are drinking,
deferring them from calling for help. Fear of punishment from
parents, I feel, is the main deterrent from under the influence
teenagers calling for help. A way other teenagers, myself included,
could help lower the number of drunk drivers is offer rides to people
who may be known to be prone to drinking and driving. Simply making
others aware that you are available if needed could save lives. I
would much rather give someone a ride home late at night than hear on
the news that they were killed, or killed someone else, in a car
wreck. Drunk driving has become too much of a normalcy in today’s
society, and I feel there are numerous measures which could be
implemented to decrease the number of people driving under the
influence.