Why You Should Actually Avoid Drunk Driving
Part 1
Since 1982, fatalities due to drunk driving have reduced to half, but even so, one-third of fatal crashes today are attributed to Driving Under the Influence or DUI.
Drunk Driving Is Dangerous
You are not only making a bad decision if you drive after drinking, but also committing a criminal act that can often lead to an unnecessary loss of life. Since 1982, these crashes that are alcohol-related have been reduced to half, but crashes that involve a drunk driver still make up a high percentage of these incidents. There is a death due to DUI once every 50 minutes in the USA, which works out to 29 deaths a day. One-third of all fatalities that occur in traffic is due to drunk driving. In 2016, drunk drivers were responsible for killing 10,497 people.
Alcohol & Its Effect When You Are Behind The Wheel
When you consume alcohol, it results in the slowing down of all automatic bodily processes, as it acts as a depressant for the central nervous system. To add to that, there is a slowing down of the brain function, decision making, thinking, and muscular coordination gets impaired. All these are very important aspects of driving safely. The effects on the body of alcohol are compounded, and this increases the alcohol amounts in the blood circulator system, greatly amplifying these effects.
Alcohol Affects The Body In Stages
About two drinks give you a BAC or blood alcohol count of 0.2
- You feel relaxed, have an increase in body temperature, and altered mood, and lose judgment to some extent
- You will find it difficult to multi-task and have a decreased ability to track objects, visually
Three drinks will bring your BAC up to 0.5
- Your behavior will then be exaggerated, you will lose small muscle control, have lowered alertness, impaired judgment, and less inhibition
- The effects amplified from above will reduce your response time and make it difficult to steer
Four drinks make your BAC 0.8
- By now your muscle control will have deteriorated, and this can affect your speech, balance, vision, hearing, and reaction time
- Concentration will decrease, as will your short-term memory, perception, speed control, and capability to process information
Five drinks bring your BAC up to 0.10
- By this time you will have lost control of reaction time, have slowed thinking, and become uncoordinated
- The effects of every category above will be amplified, and you will not be able to brake properly or stay in your lane
Seven drinks and your BAC is 0.15
- By now your muscle control is greatly reduced and you will lose balance, and unless you have a lot of tolerance, will start vomiting.
- Vehicle control is significantly impaired, as well as attention to driving, and your ability to process auditory and visual information
Drunk Driving—Its Effects On Human Society
As per recent data, death and damages that resulted from DUI cases come at a cost of US $201.1 billion every year. Included in these costs are lost productivity, expenses on the court and legal fees, medical costs, property damage, and traffic congestion. Men are three times more likely to be involved than women. Most crashes occur in areas that have a low population density with 70 percent of them taking place at night.
Reach out to Jim Butler today by calling (713) 236-8744. Schedule a free consultation so that you can learn more! Visit our blog for more related articles. Click here for the second article in this series.