DUI paper for school

Driving Under The Influence

"It is said that we will always remember the smells, noises and sight of our first car crash. Lucky for me, I got knocked out during mine. Odd to say, "lucky me" when it comes to getting close to a concussion, I know. But I'm happy that I don't have the memory of the sound of the two cars hitting. Something I do remember is the police checking to see if I was under the influence of anything: drugs, alcohol or even simply tired.

Again, luckily I was not under the influence of anything nor was the lady at fault. Unlike me, there are a lot of people who are affected by the consequences of people driving under in the influence, whether it be them, or someone else. Back in 2012 355,322 people were affected by drunk driving, with 10,322 people of those being killed and 345,000 of them being injured. Each death and injury is just another person to us until they are our family, friends, classmates and coworkers - then it becomes real, too real.

The harsh reality comes in from the fact that a lot of these injured or deceased people are teens, with car crashes - in general - being the number one killer of teens in the United States, its hard to factor in the account of underage drinking. The statistic shows that around eight teens die every day in driving under the influence car crashes, whether they are the drivers or the victims. Back in 2005, 7420 teens died or got seriously injured in these crashes. (Teen)

To throw a few more numbers in, lets talk about an every day thing: on average every 53 minutes someone is killed in a drunk driving crash. What is hard to believe is that about one-third of these drunk driving problems come from repeat offenders. 50 to 75 percent of these repeat offenders are people who have even had their licenses revoked. So, the biggest question is how can we stop the drunk drivers from driving and risking not only their lives, their passengers' lives (if there are any) and also, every other person who is out and about that day. The only thing that has been proven to work is an ignition interlock.

An ignition interlock is a small device - picture your normal cellphone size - that is put into a car and is wired to the car's ignition system. The driver of the car must blow into the device, as if they were taking a breathalyzer test. If the driver has a measurable blood alcohol level in their system at that time, the car will not start. These devices have been seen to drop deaths from drunk driving by more than 30 percent in Oregon, Arizona, Louisiana and New Mexico. With only 25 states requiring these systems to be put into all offender's vehicles, I'm excited to see the percent in deaths go down as the number of states goes up. (Drunk)

I chose this topic because it hits home for me. Though I have never been part of a crash that involved any driver being under the influence, I have been affected by one. In 2011 I got a phone call that no one ever wants to get, my boyfriend had been in a car wreck. His car was found rolled over in a ditch. He was found a few feet away. His seat belt had snapped and he flew out of the windshield. He was dead. On the other side of the road was the truck that had hit his, the driver still inside, passed out, but still breathing. Once he was in the hospital, his tests came back positive for a blood alcohol level that was through the roof. It was because of this guy deciding he was okay to drive that I lost a person who was soon to be my fiance. No one wants to be in the position I was in, and I would never wish that heartbreaking phone call on anybody. But it is due to the empathy that I feel as to why I feel I am a key person for this cause. I know what its like to be on the other side of the phone.

I know that there are always arguments of people knowing their limits when it comes to if they are safe to drive after going out for a drink that quickly turned into two and then three and so on and so forth. I want to know, how. How do these people know that "oh, well I've had three vodka martinis but since I can still walk, I can drive". From my knowledge, there is no proven way to know without a breath test or knowing your alcohol level. The safest bet is to always have a designated driver or have money for a cab. Planning ahead when you know there is going to be alcohol is the one way to know that people are going to be safe.

But still, how do we know if we are "sober enough" to drive, well if you're asking the question, then chances are you're not. Yes, people can give themselves the walking a straight line test, but for some people it isn't that hard to simply put one foot in front of the other so the question will honestly never be solved. It is all personal judgment and the judgment of those around you. The harsh reality is that on average, a person has driven drunk eighty times before they are arrested the first time. Big number isn't it? But with knowing how many people are killed every hour due to people driving under the influence, the number seems to shrink. If that person was able to drive eighty times, then it seems obvious that they did it safely, right? I mean, they made it from point A to point B without drawing any attention to themselves, so they must not have been that drunk.

What is "that drunk" though. One beer? Two, three, four beers? Again, there is no way of telling since everyone handles alcohol differently. So it is on us to take responsibility for ourselves and everyone around us. Do you want to risk one of those eighty times after three beers, and that one time getting in a wreck where a person was killed. Imagine if it was your friend, or a teen driving the other car. Now that eighty seems like a smaller number, right?

Now think of that deceased person's family. What do they have? They just lost their child, sibling, cousin... their blood. Luckily there are organizations like MADD - Mothers Against Drunk Driving - that do offer support and services to victims and their families. MADD helps one person ever 8.6 minutes. That is one person who is a victim of a crash of someone under the influence whether it be drunk driving, underage drinking or drugged driving. Now that eighty might as well be one. It only takes one crash to destroy a group of people's lives. A car crash - not even just one from drunk driving - hurts not only those physically involved but the families, friends and other loved ones as well. Only one, not eighty.

I chose this topic because no matter how you swing it, there is no excuse for driving under the influence. There are always people to call, public transportation or simply choosing who will be the designated driver for the night so that way you know that you can do your best in making sure everyone gets home safe."