DRUNK DRIVING Essay Example For Students

DRUNK DRIVING Essay News came, informing me of Katie Platts death. I was distraught and in disbelief at what I just heard. She was in a car accident. she was injured very badly, and now she was dead. Kate was one of my best friends. Above all she was only fifteen years old. Her life was taken too soon, out of carelessness that could have been prevented. Kate was at a club that night with her sister Melina and a friend the three of them had been drinking the entire night. when it was time to leave, Melinas judgement was impared, and instead of calling a friend she choose to drive under the influence. While driving Melina hit a utility pole, flipping her Jeep Cherokee three times. kate was in the back seat, not wearing her seatbelt. ( DWI Dilema, Internet source) However, I disagree. We need to send the message that it is not acceptable, nor is it constitutional to drive under any influence of alcohol, weather it be .08 or .20. Drunken driving was once treated much as car accidentsa regrettable but unavoidable part of life on the roads. But a vocal grass-roots movement led my MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) persuaded much of the country, over two decades, to view it as a type of criminal negligence. Public patience with drunk drivers quickly grew thin as well-publicized death tolls mounted. ( Mishra, Internet source) What exactly is drunk driving? This is a question that has yet to be answered. To determine the concentration of alcohol in the body at any given time, it is necessary to establish the blood alcohol concentration (BAC), which measures the percentage of alcohol in the blood. When a person consumes more alcohol than his or her body can immediately eliminate, alcohol accumulates in the bloodstream and the BAC rises.(Henderson, 23) In Connecticut the BAC level is .08, this means that the blood alcohol level needed to be arrested for drunken driving has to be . 08 or higher. One can also be convicted of drunk driving without the results of a blood alcohol test or if your blood alcohol test result is lower than the statutory amount. A conviction can be based on evidence that your breath, conduct, language, and motor movements showed that you were drunk and unable to drive safely. (Driving While Intoxicated, Internet source) Alcohols effects are progressively more noticeable as the blood alcohol concentration increases. At a BAC of .02 to . 05 percent the effects are almost entirely pleasurable. The drinker feels relaxed and sociable. There may also be some modest impairment of reasoning or memory and general reduction in caution. A BAC of .05 to .07 produces a state of excitement. The drinker begins to suffer from what may be a slight but nonetheless noticeable impairment of balance, speech, vision, reaction time, and hearing. Judgement and self-control are also effected. The drivers behavior is apt to become more aggressive. In general, the drinker feels stimulated and highly capable. In reality his or her ability to safely perform tasks such as driving that require quick reactions, concentration, and good judgement has been significantly reduced. A drinkers ability to function deteriorates quickly at BACs of . 08. to .15 percent, the drinker enters a state of confusion. At this stage, the level of impairment becomes obvious, if it is has not already. Speech becomes slurred; the drinkers sense of balance, vision, reaction time, and reasoning ability are distinctly and obviously impaired. With a BAC this high the drinker cannot safely perform tasks that require sound judgement or motor coordination. Martin Luther King Jr. Essay Also, every year more then 10,000 Americans, ages 16- 24 die in alcohol related car crashes. There is so much unnecessary tragedy associated with driving under the influence. Maybe if there were tougher laws against it, more people would choose a different solution. Perhaps if you got caught driving drunk, you would be sent to prison for putting other peoples lives in danger. I see it as attempted murder, many innocent people die as a result of being hit by a drunk driver. We need to .