“In 2015, 10,265 people died in drunk driving crashes - one every 51 minutes - and 290,000 were injured in drunk driving crashes” (Kaufman 866). That means that every 51 minutes someone loses a family member to the detrimental effects of drunk driving, a social and economic issue that costs the United States over $270 billion annually. While it is impossible to completely end DWI’s, there is a preventative solution that can dramatically lower the rates of drunk driving, so instead of locking people up you can just “lock” their car and the danger they pose on themselves and others on the road is immediately eliminated. This preventative solution requires a hand held breathalyzer device that controls the ignition of a car and determines whether
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This alarming number caught the attention of thousands of worried parents with teens, the age group with the most risk for alcohol related accidents. Statistics show that teens and “new drivers aged 21 to 29 are more likely to be involved in accidents for their likeliness to binge drink and worse driving skills” (Carter 1029). High death rates among drunk driving led to the formation of Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), a social group advocating legislation requiring all convicted drunk drivers to install ignition interlock devices that lowers recidivism. With interlock devices on the rise, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported a decrease of “11,773 people died in alcohol-impaired driving crashes in 2008” (Kanable 28). Along with a high death rate comes a high bill to pay for the thousands of alcohol related accidents each year. This massive burden on the economy totals “an estimated cost of $270 billion annually in expenses”(Kanable 24), meanwhile “the estimated societal savings of preventing crashes with the device reaches as high as $200 billion”(Kanable 24).. The small hand held device is capable of saving thousands of lives, preventing thousands of injuries and saving the country an estimated $200 billion which can be used toward ensuring the devices
This alarming number caught the attention of thousands of worried parents with teens, the age group with the most risk for alcohol related accidents. Statistics show that teens and “new drivers aged 21 to 29 are more likely to be involved in accidents for their likeliness to binge drink and worse driving skills” (Carter 1029). High death rates among drunk driving led to the formation of Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), a social group advocating legislation requiring all convicted drunk drivers to install ignition interlock devices that lowers recidivism. With interlock devices on the rise, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported a decrease of “11,773 people died in alcohol-impaired driving crashes in 2008” (Kanable 28). Along with a high death rate comes a high bill to pay for the thousands of alcohol related accidents each year. This massive burden on the economy totals “an estimated cost of $270 billion annually in expenses”(Kanable 24), meanwhile “the estimated societal savings of preventing crashes with the device reaches as high as $200 billion”(Kanable 24).. The small hand held device is capable of saving thousands of lives, preventing thousands of injuries and saving the country an estimated $200 billion which can be used toward ensuring the devices