Drinking_and_Driving

“If you must drink and drive, drink Pepsi.” You are out with a few friends having a good time. You decided a few drinks won’t hurt and begin to drinks. Before you know anything it is time to go. You figure you’ve only had a few drinks and you’re ok to drive home. You hop in your car and before you know anything your “tonic and vodka” that you had at the bar is spilling all over the place. Next thing you know your wrapped around the tree in a park. Drinking and driving is a serious issue that we face in America. Due to contrary belief most people with DUIs are not alcoholics. There are many reasons why people decide to drink. Social, peer pressure, stress alleviator, and a means of escape. Although the legal drinking age in America is 21, it is socially acceptable to drink alcohol and it is perceived as normal behavior. In social settings, friends may dare each other to drink. In the workforce, co-workers may incorporate alcohol into their after-work activities. These settings are high-pressured environments that can create the urge to drink. When stressed, some people turn to alcohol as a way of relieving their problems. Boredom or depression can cause an individual to drink alcohol. Alcohol can have dozens of effects on the body. A few of these effects consist of the brain, heart, live, stomach and your personal weight. A permanent effect of alcohol on the brain is to reduce the amount of brain tissue. The heart can be affected by the vitamin deficiencies caused by a neglected diet. The pumping action of the heart is weakened. Heart failure can result from this. If alcohol is frequently in the blood in large amounts, it causes the liver cells to die and prevents the liver from working efficiently. Drinking heavily can irritate the stomach and cause sickness and pain. The steady drinking of alcohol can lead to the regular occurrence of these symptoms. Heavy drinking can cause a serious weight problem due to alcohol's high carbohydrate content. There are many consequences to drinking and driving. Drunken driving accidents injure someone every two minutes; worse, every 30 minutes, they kill someone. If a drinking driver’s BAC is over the legal limit of 0.08, his driver’s license may be suspended or revoked for anywhere from a week to years. A convicted drunk driver also faces fines (sometimes in the thousands of dollars), jail time, increased insurance costs, attorney fees, court costs, lost time from work, and other penalties that vary from state to state. Though drunk drivers face punishments as serious as jail time, the consequences of their actions do not generally get them from getting behind the wheel. There are many causes to drinking and driving, can have multiple effects of the body and have serious consequences. People reflect a lot of times on why they get into a car with a drunk driver or why they drink and drive. “She was twenty-six years eight months old too young to die thus too astonished.” When people get into these accidents they begin to have scattered thoughts such as these.