He had to serve a few days in “tent city” (Hill, Jim, 1999), he had his driver’s license suspended for one year, and he has had to take a few hours of alcohol related courses. He also has had to pay fines to the city and his lawyer. He no longer has a vehicle because it was totaled during the accident that occurred while he was driving intoxicated. Kevin is lucky because he can still work and he has family that can provide him with transportation to and from work. Although, I think Kevin has learned his lesson, I am glad that Arizona has laws in place that will prevent him from being able to drive for one year.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's Fatality Analysis Reporting System, within the past 10 years, almost 150 people have died from motorcycle accidents in the state of Idaho. Of these fatalities, over 60% were not wearing a helmet. A recent study (Orsay et al., 1994) published in the Center for Disease Control's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, estimates the use of a properly fitted and secured helmet can reduce the risk of death by over 25%, and reduce serious head trauma in a motorcycle accident by almost 35%. Yet many people still refuse to wear a helmet. The financial burden to society from these accidents is staggering.
Currently, you are legally able to drive at age 16½. However, the minimum age should be raised to 18. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the nation lost 33,561 people in crashes on roadways in 2012. Drivers under the age of 18 years old took up 64% of that statistic. Compared to 2011, the amount of fatalities increased 3.3%.
An average someone is affect the offender but also other innocent victims around them. Killed by a drunk driver every 40 minutes, in 2007, an estimate of 12,998 people died in drunk driving related cashes- a decline of 3.7 percent from the 13,491 drunk related fatalities in 2006. In 2002, 2.3 percent of Americans 18years and older, surveyed reported alcohol impaired including 50 percent of 18 – 21 year old. Alcohol is never right for an underage, and when an underage as a very high alcohol consumption and get behind the wheels its like hell on the wheel because he control himself not to talk of controlling the wheels and when he can’t do that, he crashes into someone else. One of the biggest and oldest organization that has been against drunk driving is MADD- which stand for mothers against drunk driving.
With the highest crime states out of the picture it left knowingly less violent states for Brady supporters to use as proof of decreasing crime. From 1993 to present year there has been a steady five to ten percent decrease in U.S. violent crimes. The FBI reported an estimate of 1.3 million violent crimes in 2009, of which 67.1% were aggregated assaults, but of that percent, firearms were used in only 20.9% of those assaults. So, let us for example ban guns and pretend no citizens have access to them, which leaves 46.2% violent assaults where a gun was not used (U.S. Department of, 2010). High numbers of violent crimes still exist even after firearms are subtracted from the
Due to binge drinking, there are an estimated 300 suicides per year in the U.S. However, at age 18, kids could apply for a job, a credit card, join the army and even marry but can’t drink alcohol because the law is 21. But, at age 18, the brain isn’t fully developed and they could make bad decisions but at age 21, all parts of the brain are fully developed and they can make smarter decisions. At 18, the teens could be reckless with the alcohol and abuse it and hurt themselves or hurt others. Alcohol is very dangerous.
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.
Evidence Research: * I have found that 1.6 million auto accidents per year, which is equal to 28%, are caused by cell phone use and texting and driving. * Also, another scary thought is that texting and driving is equivalent to a driver who has had 4 beers and then started to drive. E. Conclusion I propose that a state ban of texting and driving will alleviate most of the accidents that are happening now days due to this major distraction that only requires a driver’s eye for 5 seconds. In those five seconds, if traveling at 55 MPH, a driver can go the distance of a football field (Bowers, 2014) and can cause a horrific accident. It has been stated in research, that 1.6 million of auto accidents are caused by cell phone us and texting, which is 28% (Pascual-Ferrá, Liu, & Beatty, Meta-Analytic Comparison of the Effects of Text Messaging to Substance-Induced Impairment on Driving Performance, 2012), as well as texting and driving is equivalent to someone who has drank 4 beers, (Bowers, 2014) or someone who has decided to get high off of some kind of illegal drug, and then decided to get behind the wheel and drive.
Although we have educated and preached to our children about drinking and driving, the statistics in 2001 showed an estimated 2.8 million college students drove under the influence. That’s half a million more than in 1998. An alarming statistic from Mothers Against Drunk Driving is that more college under-graduates will die from alcohol related causes than will receive a masters or doctorate degree. Another statistic, one I found sickening and very upsetting was,” During a typical weekend, an average of one teenager dies each hour in a car crash. Nearly fifty percent of those crashes involved alcohol” (MADD).
When you see younger people starting to drink and they combine that with driving they can cause deaths to a lot of people. The national highway traffic safety administration estimates that raising the drinking age to 21 saves about 800 lives a year (James C. Fell). Underage drinking for 10th and 12th graders has been steadily going down since the drinking age was raised to 21, in 2009 it was at an all time low for 12th graders, many of whom are 18. “Keeping the drinking age at 21has saved lives, and there’s no reason to fix what isn’t broken”. Every place has their own drinking age, In Europe the legal drinking age is 16 and in Italy it is 17.