Reasons Why You Should Not Drink And Drive
Despite legal initiatives and public education campaigns, drunk driving remains a serious problem around the world. Thousands of people are killed because of drunk driving and the problems carries on. Before getting behind the wheel after having a few drinks, consider the many reasons why you should not.
Legal penalties
Drunken-driving laws vary, but driving with a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.08 percent or greater is illegal.
Additionally, zero-tolerance laws make it illegal for people younger than 21 to be caught with any reading other than 0 on the breathalyser test.
Diminished driving skills
Alcohol impairs your motor skills, meaning you won’t be as good of a driver drunk as you are sober.
For example, visual acuity is reduced by 32 per cent when you are drunk, and peripheral vision is affected as well, according to the University of Texas at San Antonio. Distance and depth perception are also affected, and people who are drunk also do not hear as precisely as when they are sober.
Reaction time and judgment
Alcohol acts as a depressant on the central nervous system. Because of this, it can significantly impair your judgment and reaction time—a bad combination when you are behind the wheel. In fact, people who have been drinking can respond between 15 per cent and 25 per cent slower than when they have not been drinking, according to the University of Texas at San Antonio.
This slowed reaction time is often the cause of drunken driving accidents.
Judgment is also quickly affected by alcohol. Even a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.02 per cent can impair a person’s judgment.
Cost
Drunken driving takes a large toll on society in general. In 2000, alcohol-related crashes in the United States cost Americans more than $114 billion (F$213 billion), according to Mothers Against Drunk Driving. That figure includes more than $51 billion (F$106 billion) in monetary losses and more than $63 billion (F$131 billion) in loses related to quality of life.
Guilt
If the above reasons are not enough to make you think twice before driving after having a few drinks, ask yourself if you will be able to live with the guilt if someone is injured or killed because of your reckless actions. Every day, innocent people have their lives destroyed by people who decided they were ok to drive when in fact they were not. Keep that in mind next time you decide to get behind the wheel.
Alcohol impairs your motor skills, meaning you won’t be as good of a driver drunk as you are sober.