According to the Ohio State Highway Patrol, drunk driving related deaths “...rose from 318 in 2013, to 338 in 2014, to 365 in 2015. That is a 14.8% increase from 2013 to 2015 and an 8% increase from 2014 to 2015.” In Ohio, 35% of the fatal crashes were caused by alcohol. In order to reduce the amount of deaths caused by alcohol, we need to support the bill that will reduce the blood alcohol concentration to 0.05%. If Ohio officials don’t focus on this bill, many people's lives will be impacted negatively. Having the blood-alcohol level at 0.08% provides a higher chance of people getting injured or possibly even death.
By the third offense of impaired driving you while get a 30 day suspension, must attend a mandatory alcohol treatment program, 150$ fine and for six months ignition interlock. If you have a blood alcohol level over 0.08 you will have much more serious consequences. Such as, 1000$ fine, eventually a lifetime licence suspension and other serious consequences. There are also other consequences, drunk or impaired driving can lead to accidents, you can seriously injure yourself or someone else or it can even lead to someone's death. This is something you cannot take back, it can be something that ruins your life, impaired driving is a serious offense that should be dealt with seriously and not taken lightly.
4) According to the U.S. Surgeon General, about 5,000 kids under 21 die every year as a result of underage drinking – from crashes, homicides, and suicides. Teens that drink also are at risk for a long list of other injuries and potential life-long alcohol abuse. c) Car crashes are the leading cause of death among people ages 15 to 20. About 1,900 people under 21 die every year from car crashes involving underage drinking.
“Traffic deaths from drunken driving have fallen steadily, with those involving teenagers 16 to 19 declining by 39.1 percent from 1982 to 1990, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)”. (Clark, 1992). Even though drinking and driving is a crime thousands of teens continue to get behind the wheel and kill thousands of innocent people in alcohol related crashes every year. There are drunken accidents because teens don’t take drinking and driving seriously. Teens just want to feel the pleasure and they want to feel good but don’t think about the other people or even there selves that they can kill on the road.
Unfortunately many states have taken the easy road and have become over-reliant on the federal government for support. In return they are forced to relinquish power and freedom. This is one of the “cons” to following the federal mandate of the universal MLDA of 21. The main argument against lowering the MLDA again, is the inevitable rise in drunken driving related deaths. In the 1960’s and 1970’s when many states had lowered the MLDA, besides the rise in drunk-driving deaths, studies showed that people raised from childhood in under-21 states were involved in higher rates of alcohol and drug use as adults, and had a higher rate of homicides and suicides.
An average of 17,000 individuals die each year in drink driving related deaths. The numbers have come down slightly , for example, in 2010 10,228 individuals died from drink driving related fatalities, drink driving continues to be an enormously important public safety issue. What is more, drinking and driving is strongly correlated with youth. After the age of 25, the drink driving rates rapidly decrease. It seems quite plausible that were alcohol to be illegal for those under the age of 18, the 15.1% of 18 to 20 year olds who drink before getting behind the wheel would decrease significantly.
Then if drinking alcohol slows your driving time you have more time to react, causing alcohol to make driving a car much safer. We could use more drivers who drink and drive. They cause drivers to pay more attention and it causes drivers to be more conscious of their driving situation. Sober driving is horrible not only to families of the innocent; it also costs the public $114.3 billion a year in damages. This means the taxpayers have to give money to build poles and plant trees in various traps to ensnare drunk drivers.
When you are first allowed to drink is when people get inane and don’t know how to handle alcohol and driving. Even if we raise the drinking age to 20 there will be still drunk driving accidents mostly iun the age group of 30. There are health risks that come with drinking but there are also health rusks from eating too much sugar or salty food. Health problems come from over drinking. If a person drink in moderation it wouldn’t cause major health problems.
In fact, every 30 minutes, someone in this country dies in a alcohol-related crash. Every 30 minutes! How would you feel if you lost a family member to such a simple avoidable mistake? Each year drunk driving is responsible for about 25% of deaths. The Loss of loved ones; loss of important family members and loss of friends resulting from irresponsible drunk drivers on the road are tragic and permanent.
Is the Drinking Age Right? Should the drinking age be changed to 21? I think it should. This topic is very important, not only for people who drink but for the people around them who have to deal with the choices drunken people make! More and more people are dying every day from alcohol related accidents and the sad part is, is that lots who die from alcohol related crashes, are victims.