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Drunk Driving Prevention
April is Alcohol Awareness Month!
Drunk Driving Destroys Lives. Each year, 42,000 people die in motor vehicle crashes and more than 16,000 of these fatalities are alcohol or drug-related. Behind these statistics are real people with real stories. They’re not numbers, but human beings with families and friends.
In an Atlanta, Georgia high school auditorium, a teenage boy emotionally tells his captive audience how one year earlier, after drinking with his friends, he smashed his parent’s SUV into a car and killed a couple on their honeymoon.
In rural Virginia, a 32-year-old alcohol-impaired driver plowed into a mini-van containing two young children, their parents, and grandparents. While all parties survived, one of the children remains in a coma and both grandparents sustained serious injuries. Police officers at the scene reported that the driver had drunk so much alcohol prior to the crash that he did not remember getting into his car, nor did he show remorse for his actions. The suspect’s license was revoked at the scene; he was later convicted of impaired driving, and received a mandatory sentence of attending drug treatment and performing community service.
On a billboard near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the face of a young girl — a victim of an alcohol-related crash — is a stark warning not to drink and drive.
The above are sad reminders that drinking and driving are a fatal mix. To help promote Alcohol Awareness Month and help educate the public, we have provided information and resources on this totally preventable public health problem.
Chances are you, a friend or a family member have been involved in an alcohol-related motor vehicle crash, resulting in personal injury or property damage. In fact, recent studies have shown that three in ten people will become involved in an alcohol-related crash in their lifetimes. Last year alone, 15,935 traffic fatalities were attributed to impaired driving. These are too many lives to be lost each year to a tragedy that can be avoided. That’s why the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has initiated the "You Drink & Drive. You Lose" campaign, with the goal of reducing the current fatality rate to no more than 11,000 per year by the year 2005. Through this effort, NHTSA hopes to educate the public about the dangers associated with impaired driving, creating not only a change in attitude, but a change in behavior.
What constitutes impairment?
Impairment begins with one alcoholic drink – whether it be "hard" liquor, wine or beer. Once alcohol is consumed, it is absorbed by an individual’s blood system, and can be measured as Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC). Studies show that even one drink decreases one’s ability to react quickly, a factor that can prove fatal when an impaired individual gets behind the wheel of an automobile.
How will I know when I'm past my limit?
While accepted BAC levels vary from state to state, the rate of absorption in one’s body varies according to an individual’s height, weight, experience with alcohol and food consumed prior to alcohol consumption. So it is a good idea to assign a designated driver and/or plan alternate modes of transportation when even a minimal amount of alcohol is consumed in any given situation. While individuals rarely possess the tools to determine their own BAC, law enforcement officials do, and will not hesitate to use them if they believe a driver to be impaired. Click here to calculate your blood alcohol content (BAC).
At what BAC level does impairment begin?
Studies show that impairment begins at any BAC level over .00, and can affect an individual's judgement and ability to react, factors that are critical to safe driving. While it is true that accepted BAC levels vary from state to state, to ensure the well-being of all those on the road, the only truly safe driving is sober driving.
Real change will not take place until the public recognizes that driving under the influence, at any BAC level, endangers the life of the driver, his/her passengers, and all those traveling on the road. The physical, emotional and economic burdens impaired drivers inflict upon the community each year are unparalleled. No matter how one looks at it, You Drink & Drive. You Lose.
What will happen to me if I get caught?
If an individual is found to be impaired while driving, he/she will experience criminal repercussions. These repercussions can include fines, the loss of driving privileges, incarceration, higher insurance rates and a criminal record. Law enforcement officers are cracking down on impaired drivers, stepping up their policing activities on a regular basis, and implementing a network of sobriety checkpoints and saturation patrols throughout the year.
The question of being caught, however, is a major factor in the impaired driving problem. The public needs, instead, to ask, what will happen if I don’t get caught? This answer is much more frightening, and carries with it much more dire consequences than fines, prosecution or the loss of one’s license. The destruction impaired drivers inflict upon their communities is immeasurable. Everyone is affected by the impaired driver’s irresponsible and malicious behavior, whether it be from higher taxes or the emotional destruction a family experiences after losing a loved one. Because no matter how you look at it, when You Drink & Drive. You Lose..
There are many ways that we, as one united community, can help prevent intoxicated people from driving. One well-known campaign, "Friends Don't Let Friends Drive Drunk," includes some techniques on how you can take the car keys away from a drunk driver:
- If it is a close friend, try and use a soft, calm approach at first. Suggest to them that they've had too much to drink and it would be better if someone else drove or if they took a cab.
- Be calm. Joke about it. Make light of it.
- Try to make it sound like you are doing them a favor.
- If it is somebody you don't know well, speak to their friends and have them make an attempt to persuade them to hand over the keys. Usually they will listen.
- If it's a good friend, spouse, or significant other, tell them that if they insist on driving, you are not going with them. Suggest that you will call someone else for a ride, take a cab, or walk.
- Locate their keys while they are preoccupied and take them away. Most likely, they will think they've lost them and will be forced to find another mode of transportation.
- If possible, avoid embarrassing the person or being confrontational, particularly when dealing with men. This makes them appear vulnerable to alcohol and its effects.
Informative Tips for Youth, Parents, Communities, Schools and Prom Night Tips for Parents: Click here!
Below are some books with information about children and alcohol. Use Amazon.com's secure server to order:
 Alcohol 101: Overview / Teens: - Margaret Hyde. Buy it now through Amazon.com's secure server!
Click HERE or on the image of the books to give this gift to yourself or someone else!
Read Teens, Real Stories, Real Life: - T. Suzanne Eller. Buy it NOW through Amazon.com's secure server!
Click HERE or on the image of the books to give this gift to yourself or someone else!
Young, Sober & Free: Teen to Teen Stories of Hope & Recovery: - Shelly Marshall. Buy it NOW through Amazon.com's secure server!
Click HERE or on the image of the books to give this gift to yourself or someone else!
Below are informative resources where you can find more helpful content regarding alcohol abuse and drunk driving prevention:
Click here to read other articles from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Sources © National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation. Reprinted with permission.
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