The Increasing Problem Of Drunk Driving

“In 2014, 9,967 people were killed in alcohol-impaired driving crashes, accounting for nearly one-third (31%) of all traffic-related deaths in the United States” (Impaired Driving: Get the Facts). Looking at this statistic, which is one of many, driving while impaired is an enormous problem. There are ways to decrease the numbers significantly, these should, and need to be looked into. With people being unaware of the issue, they aren’t trying to help solve this issue, it will continue to get worse with the growing population and number of people reaching the age of 21, allowing them to drink alcohol. People who commit first offenses, are likely to become repeat offenders which creates an even larger problem, because that not only involves …show more content…
The percentage of use is shown on the vertical axis while the age groups are shown on the horizontal axis. The bars of the graph are broken up into three categories, blue being alcohol use (occasional), green is binge use, but not heavy, and red is heavy use. From looking at the graph, it’s easy to see from ages 26 and on, the usage decreases especially in the binge and heavy use categories. The percentage of use gradually goes up in the beginning and hits a peak at the age group 21-25, while almost even with 18-20 in the the heavy use category. It is certain that if the legal age to drink alcohol was raised to twenty-five, those numbers would decrease in the beginning which would cause the numbers later on to decrease as well. It is proven that those who drink early on in their life, tend to have major drinking problems later down the road. Raising the drinking age to twenty-five will help the brain and physical development reach its full potential. “A review of no less than 57 studies by University of Minnesota researchers came to the same conclusion: raising the drinking age saves lives… In other research, 40 percent of 16 to 17-year-olds admit they drink to get drunk. With 18-24 year olds, this ignoble pursuit jumps to 63 per cent” (Lang). Numerous studies have shown that full maturity of the brain and nervous system do not happen until they hit the age of twenty-five. Before reaching that …show more content…
Right now with the small amount of them out there, they reduce the amount of fatal crashes by about 9%. If the amount of the checkpoints were increased, the percentage would skyrocket because of many reasons. One being that the checkpoints will catch a lot more people because of the amount of them will go up which then causes more people to go through them. Not only that, but it puts the thought in people’s heads that now there is a higher chance of them getting caught so they will not drive while drunk. This method is the most effective because it will stop people from even becoming first offenders. Also, it will save a lot of people from getting in fatal accidents and getting horribly injured or even killed. With each checkpoint that is added, the percentage of those who are caught goes up while the percentage of accidents goes down. This is more of a mandatory influence that