Alcohol Impaired Driving

Irresponsible drinking habits are on the rise inspite of strict regulations and severe punishments imposed on those causing serious problems in the society. Drinking becomes a serious problem when it is consumed beyond limits and considering the fact that an individual is not in his or her senses when drunk, they pose a greater threat involving themselves in activities like driving a vehicle.

Drunk driving is an offense under the driving laws of the state. The accused is arrested under DWI (Driving While Intoxicated) or DUI (Driving under Influence) offense where the Field Sobriety Tests such as Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) Test, Zero Tolerance Test, and Breathalyzer reveal that the individual has crossed the legal limits permitted.

In what ways Alcohol Impaired Driving a Hazard to Everyone?

Giving the issue of alcohol impaired driving a result of alcohol abuse; on a serious thought we understand that these individuals not only put their life at stake but also the life of others on road. Even after strict punishments are being imposed on irresponsible driving and drinking habits, people hardly care about the aftermath of such incidents and the long lasting impact it is likely to carry for their lifetime.

Alcohol abuse in the first place puts the individual in a precarious condition in which he will not be in a position to handle him leave alone managing a vehicle. There is absolutely no safety assured both for the driver and for all passersby on road. A drunkard person fails to follow the traffic rules as he is not acting under his senses. Such DWI or DUI accidents are at its peak especially during weekends when people generally tend to relax and enjoy and also during vacations and festival celebrations. Sensing the danger authorities have extra policing and sign boards on during that of the year when people tend to act crazy.

Statistics reveals that alcohol impaired driving is one of the top three reasons killing people in road accidents. In order to control teenage drinking and driving, underage drinking, drinking is prohibited for individuals below the age of 21 in most of the states in the US. The minimum age for drinking varies from state to state. Zero Tolerance is checked for drivers below the specified age limit under the Zero Tolerance Law and even the slightest trace of alcohol shown in there Blood Alcohol Content test, they are convicted under DWI offence. This is indeed a serious step towards alcohol abuse. The permitted Blood Alcohol Content level is .08.

Coming to the facts of impaired or drunk driving close to 17,000 people have died due to impaired driving in 2006. It is also believed that 1 in every 3 people addicted to alcohol will be affected because of impaired driving in their life time. We all counts days of our life, but alcoholics do not seem to have the patience of counting days. Every 31 minutes one person dies due to alcohol related crash. Out of the 5000 deaths each year of individuals who are under 21 years of age due to underage drinking, 1900 is due to vehicular crashes. In the year 2007, nearly 140,000 people where arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol and narcotics.

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