The world has never been a more dangerous and frightening place to live in than today. Recent events show crime is on the rise across the country and alcohol seems to play a major role in contributing to deadly and reckless decisions. Classified as a highly addictive drug, alcohol affects more than seventeen million people in the United States and has formed a close relationship with illegal offenses such as robbery, sexual assault, and homicide. When alcohol is present, situations often result in terrible consequences. Alcohol alone is dangerous. But what happens when irresponsible drinking meets driving? When a person gets behind the wheel intoxicated and decides it is okay to kill? Sadly, this happens every night. Over the years, there have
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It was not until 1930 when Indiana was the first state to enforce the Blood Alcohol Content, or BAC, setting the legal limit at .15 percent, nearly twice the amount of today’s .08 percent national limit. Soon after, The National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984 was passed to raise the drinking age to 21-years-old and that set the stage for the Zero Tolerance Act of 1998, which makes it a criminal DUI offense to have even a small amount of alcohol, ranging from 0.00 to 0.02 percent BAC, for drivers under the legal age limit. These laws are strictly enforced to this day and offenders are punished with jail time, fines, license revocation, and possible DUI school. In the United States, an average of 27 people are killed everyday because of drunk driving crashes. Driving while intoxicated is a deadly problem in today’s society due to thousands of lives being lost when simply crossing a street or coming home from …show more content…
But many people do not believe the problem will ever disappear. It is understandable to doubt that such a large issue can be lessened, but an issue like drunk driving can diminish with proper steps and a different approach. For example, sobriety checks are commonly placed around the holidays or during a popular event, due to the high number of crowds and alcohol present. These sobriety checks are one of the most effective enforcement tools because they are proven in reducing fatalities by twenty percent. If sobriety checks are placed throughout the year, not just a particular time, drunk driving accidents would dramatically decrease across the nation. Another effective tool that could be modified is the ignition interlock system. The ignition interlock is a small device that is wired into the ignition system of a vehicle. A convicted drunk driver must blow into the device, and if there is a certain amount of alcohol present in the driver’s system, the car will not start. There are currently twelve states that have been successful in reducing drunk driving fatalities after interlock laws were passed. Nevada itself has one of the weakest interlock laws in the nation. Challenging lawmakers to improve the use of the ignition interlock system in every state, for all DUI offenders, will set the wheels in motion for
It was not until 1930 when Indiana was the first state to enforce the Blood Alcohol Content, or BAC, setting the legal limit at .15 percent, nearly twice the amount of today’s .08 percent national limit. Soon after, The National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984 was passed to raise the drinking age to 21-years-old and that set the stage for the Zero Tolerance Act of 1998, which makes it a criminal DUI offense to have even a small amount of alcohol, ranging from 0.00 to 0.02 percent BAC, for drivers under the legal age limit. These laws are strictly enforced to this day and offenders are punished with jail time, fines, license revocation, and possible DUI school. In the United States, an average of 27 people are killed everyday because of drunk driving crashes. Driving while intoxicated is a deadly problem in today’s society due to thousands of lives being lost when simply crossing a street or coming home from …show more content…
But many people do not believe the problem will ever disappear. It is understandable to doubt that such a large issue can be lessened, but an issue like drunk driving can diminish with proper steps and a different approach. For example, sobriety checks are commonly placed around the holidays or during a popular event, due to the high number of crowds and alcohol present. These sobriety checks are one of the most effective enforcement tools because they are proven in reducing fatalities by twenty percent. If sobriety checks are placed throughout the year, not just a particular time, drunk driving accidents would dramatically decrease across the nation. Another effective tool that could be modified is the ignition interlock system. The ignition interlock is a small device that is wired into the ignition system of a vehicle. A convicted drunk driver must blow into the device, and if there is a certain amount of alcohol present in the driver’s system, the car will not start. There are currently twelve states that have been successful in reducing drunk driving fatalities after interlock laws were passed. Nevada itself has one of the weakest interlock laws in the nation. Challenging lawmakers to improve the use of the ignition interlock system in every state, for all DUI offenders, will set the wheels in motion for