The Causes and Effects of Drinking and Driving
People love being risky. For example, college students like to do college student things such as going to parties and having fun. While having fun, one needs to know his/her responsibilities while hanging out with friends or at a party, such as not drinking and doing illegal drugs. When drinking and driving, there can be issues, accidents, or even deaths. “In 2011, the overall prevalence of drinking and driving was 10.3% representing about 950,000 high school students aged 16-19 years in the United States and approximately 2.4 million episodes of drinking and driving during the past 30 days” (Merrick, Tenenbaum and Morad1). This essay will explain the causes and effects of a person who decides to drink and drive.
For people who decide that they want to drink and drive, they have the possibility of getting hurt, or even worse. While people are under the influence of alcohol, their minds are not right, and their brains work differently and not clearly. Let us say a person decided to drink and drive and then crashed. Waking up in the hospital not exactly knowing where one is or how he/she got there can be quite frightening to someone. If a person drinks only one drink, he/she can still get their license revoked.
Having a license revoked can be on one’s record for a long time. No one should be driving while under the influence of alcohol. With one drink, a person could be buzzed or could be a lightweight and can possibly still cause some damage. A person can get pulled for swerving in and out of their lane, having a head light out, or their tags are expired and he/she just so happened to have one drink that changed what would happen to them. People who are under the influence of alcohol have the possibility of going to jail, and needing bail. Going to jail goes on a person’s record, it cannot be removed, which means that it is harder to find employment. Not only can one drink just get a person’s license revoked, but he/she could seriously harm someone.
When someone hurts another person, he/she regrets it and feels bad. For example, think about having one too many drinks and then driving. While driving, everything goes black and silent. Then, waking up in a place where one is not familiar with, and has no idea how and when he/she got there. In the bed next to the person, there is a girl who the driver does not recognize, doctors are all over her, and there is blood everywhere. Her line on the machine that shows her heart beat goes flat. The next morning, the driver is told that there was an accident and the girl that the driver hit, is dead. For the rest of the driver’s life, he/she knows it was his/her fault. He/she lives with regret that he/she cannot take back because of one mistake.
This essay explained the causes and effects of a person who decided to drink and drive. When a person is not in their right state of mind, things can become blurry, and drowsy which is where an accident can occur. Having fun doesn’t mean a person cannot be safe as well. Risking another person’s life for one’s own fun is wrong, and is not worth it. Do not drink and drive, be safe and call a taxi.
Works Cited
- Merrick, Joav, MD,M.MedSc, D.M.Sc, Tenenbaum, A., M.D., & Morad, Mohammed, M.D., M.R.C.P.S.(Glasg). (2013). Youth, drinking and driving. International Journal of Child Health and Human Development, 6(3), 263-264. Retrieved from http://nclive.org/cgi- bin/nclsm?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/1625959910?accountid=9912
