Alcohol is Evil When it Comes to Driving. (Drink and Drive?!)

Name: katygriff

Hello doyoo user, You have to be logged in to use these functions... Login or register Close window

Send message to member

Product:	Drink and Drive?!
Date:	28/03/06 (1573 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Injury to Yourself and Others.

Disadvantages: None.

This subject is one that I hope nobody ever gives five stars and that is because in my eyes it can never ever be seen in a good light ever. On two occasions in my life drink driving has been bought up in horrible ways and many times after have I preached to people not to drink drive and here I will hopefully tell you why I think it is such an awful thing to do:

-----

What is drink driving?

Just for those who do not know as there may be some, drink driving is when you drive under the influence of alcohol.

-----

Why is it dangerous?

When an individual consumes alcohol it affects them in more ways than you think and although you may feel perfectly ok after a few, your body is actually not capable of driving safely. Alcohol affects your attention span, your concentration, your vision, your special awareness and because it makes you feel elated at times it will effect your ability to process information within your mind so if something happened on the road your reaction time would be severely effected.

-----

First some statistics:

* The first figure I came upon was that just over twenty percent of driving crimes in the United States are from drink driving which is a really high number considering everybody should know how dangerous it is.

* The average number of people killed in drink drive accidents is around 3000 in the UK.

* One in six deaths on the road is down to drink driving.

These statistics scare me as they could be so easily avoided if everybody who drove were just a bit smarter.

-----

So how is drink driving measured?

I am not sure how it works in other countries but over here in the UK you are at the limit if you have 80 milligrams of alcohol in 100 millilitres of your blood. How much you can drink is completely different for each individual but usually if you have even had one alcoholic drink then you should not drive in my opinion. In reality though if you drink plenty of water afterwards and leave driving for a few hours then you should be ok.

It is said that just having two units of alcohol increases self confidence and is dangerous to drive on and just for reference this is how many units are in common drinks;

250ml of wine = Around 3 units.
½ pint beer = One unit.
25ml of spirits = Around one unit.
Alcopop = 2 to 3.5 units.

I believe the legal restrictions set in at the moment are fantastic and they should stay like that despite the UK laws being more strict than many countries.

-----

What happens if you are caught?

There are several penalties if you do get caught drink driving depending on how much you are over the limit and also what happens i.e. if you drive into a tree or are swerving across the road or even if you hit another person which is quite likely if you are over the limit.

If you do get caught you could be fined up to £2500 and get a ban of up to eighteen moths. You can also get up to ten points on your driving licence and also prison sentences.

-----

My Experiences:

The first instance:

When I first went to secondary school one of the first things I noticed was how the sixth form students were very well known by everyone. Within a few months I knew all of their names and what all of them were studying and they were very involved with the school as a whole. I soon began to look up to them as examples of how we should be when we were that age and at that stage in our school lives.

One of the girls was a lovely and pretty girl who was extremely popular with all of the students there (I will not say her name out of respect for her). She was very personable and her grades were always quite high. One day we were in school when she didn’t turn up so soon rumours were going around and we soon found out the truth.

She had been walking home after just getting off of the bus near her home in the afternoon and this was the Spring so it was quite light. Three young guys had been driving and hadn’t seen her and knocked her over and sadly she died. It was soon found out when they were caught that they were all drunk and were almost three times over the limit.

This sad event was the first time that I had thought about drink driving and from then on I believed that every person who even thought about drinking and then driving were unforgivable.

-----

The second instance:

This time it was a family member who was silly enough to drink themselves over the limit and then attempt to drive home. They were caught by the police as they were swerving all over the road and they were breathalysed and found to be way over the limit and as a result they were charged and banned from driving for just over a year.

The driving ban ended and they thought that they would be away from that awful night but now every time they have to do anything to do with their car they do have to say that they were convicted for drink driving and still although it is nearly four years later, they are still paying more on insurance because of it.

-----

Verdict:

I think that everybody will agree with me that drink driving is wrong and it is astonishing how many cases are still seen. You would have thought that now people would have the sense to not do it but it seems that some are just too stupid for their own good.

I can happily admit to you that I have never even had one alcoholic drink if I am driving. The most I have been tempted was when I got promoted unexpectedly at work and my bosses took me out for a celebratory drink. The only problem was that I drove to work and I phoned my Mom and asked her if she could pick up my car but she was going out so in the end I could not have a drink. They were trying to make me have just one but I stood my ground and had a nice time just drinking lemonade.

In conclusion this subject will only get one star from me because whoever is silly enough to even think they can get away with drink driving should have their licence taken from them because they are risking harm to others. Alcohol is dangerous enough as it is and effects everybody so it really is better if you are driving to just steer clear from alcoholic drinks because there are so many other drinks out there that are just as nice to have.

Thanks for reading.

xxx

Summary: Don't Ever do it.