Drinking and Driving Argumentative

Drunk driving is a major concern in the United States because alcohol consumption increases the risk that drivers will cause vehicle crashes that can kill or injure themselves or others. Drunk driving has cultural and economic influences, the low risk of apprehension, the failure of alcoholic beverage servers to prevent excessive consumption, and the locating of licensed alcoholic beverage servers far from where people live and work. A random sample of full-time students attending Hofstra University completed an online questionnaire. The questionnaire will determine if alcohol is a huge part of a person’s life. In this paper, we propose that lowering the BAC level to .05/.06 can reduce the number of fatal car crashes occurring in the United States. Lowering the blood alcohol content can increase the likely hood that drinking responsible can occur.

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The reduction of the blood alcohol content can reduce the number of motor vehicle related death of teenage drivers. Deaths and injuries due to impaired driving have become a worldwide predicament. There are still numerous amounts of alcohol-impaired drivers going out on the road even though there are warnings and stern laws. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, almost 30 people lose their lives every day due to drunk driving in the United States alone. (Taxman,& Piquero, 1998). Teenage drinking and driving is the primary cause of death in America. My research will focus on preventing teens from drinking and driving and reduce the amount of deaths that occur in the United States. One of the positive things of drunk driving in teenagers is that there are many things being done to help stop it. Many of the organizations have been started by families who have had a family member a victim to drunken driving accidents. These organizations have flourished all throughout the country.

The media and the entertainment industry has also done numerous drives to increase awareness to encourage teens to refrain from excessive alcohol consumption and drunk driving. In recent research that has been done on preventing drinking and driving the belief that grabbing the attention of the youth will assist in the decrease the amount of death caused by drinking and driving. Increasing school awareness for drinking and driving could assist in the decrease death in young adults. (Eensoo, Paaver, & Harro, 2011) Increasing school awareness for impaired driving will not only reach out to the students but to the parents as well. School based prevention programs can provide students with information regarding the consequences of

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consuming alcohol; these programs may also attempt to influence adolescents’ perceptions of social norms of alcohol and other drug substances. (Elder, et al., 2010) Since teenagers believe that they are invincible increasing school awareness will teach teens that there are consequences to drinking and driving such as death, and jail time. Developing new ways to approach teens is not easy, schools need represent this idea that impaired driving will end a person’s life. (Fell , Todd, & Voas., 2011) Recent research has been done on lowering the BAC level which shows that lowering blood alcohol level will allow teenagers to consume less alcohol and allow them to be more responsible when driving. This article shows that a decline of 19% in fatal car crashes because of the lowering of BAC level, this study also showed 11% to 33% reductions in car crash injuries and fatalities following the lower youth BAC limits. (Wagenaar, O’Malley, & LaFond, 2000).

Lowering the BAC level can decrease the number fatal car crashes and allow teenagers to be more responsible on the roads and when consuming alcohol. How can decreasing the BAC level be enacted by the government prevent alcohol consumption while decreasing the number alcohol related driving accidents in teenagers? So I hypothesized Lowering the blood alcohol level to .06 can reduce the risk of fatal car crashes and increase chances of survival in young adults. Unlike the original BAC .08 which allows a little amount of alcohol consumption which then can lead to more, lowering the BAC level to .06 will not allow teenager to second guess themselves about having that second and third drink.

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Motor vehicle accidents occur constantly throughout the United States. The leading cause of the death in the United States is motor vehicle accidents. (Taxman, & Piquero, 1998). Teenagers believe that they are invincible and that they can do whatever they want. Impaired driving is a major issue in our country, and there should be more laws that are formed to prevent impaired driving. In the year 2009 there were 10,839 fatalities in crashes involving a driver with a BAC of .08 or higher 32 percent of total traffic fatalities for the year (Wagenaar A, O’Malley, & LaFond, 2000). Alcohol consumption impairs certain normal bodily functions, such as visual alertness and reaction time, which increases the probability of car accidents. (Polacsek, Rogers, Woodall, & Delaney, 2001). When impaired a person’s is in a different mental state where they can’t control every action. In 2009 the highest percentage of drivers with a BAC level of .08 or higher was for drivers aged between 21 to 24 (35%), followed by ages 25 to 34 (32%) and 35 to 44 (26%) (Taxman, & Piquero, 1998).

In 2009, United States , the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico made it illegal to drive with a BAC of .08 or higher. 10,839 people who died in an alcohol-related crash, 7,281 had drivers with BACs above the legal limit. (Nelson, & Naimi, 2000). Almost 70% of the deaths that occur are because of impaired drivers. New prevention techniques need to be enacted to prevent DWI’s. My prevention techniques will have a more promising and strict approach to drinking and driving. A few ways that can reduce drinking and driving are, community-based approaches or example, requiring mandatory substance abuse assessment and treatment, and Putting health promotion efforts into practice that influence economic, organizational, policy, and school/community action. Also the establishment of new laws can be formed, for example lowering the BAC level, and increasing tax on alcohol. On average in 2009 every 48 minutes a 6 DECREASING BAC LEVEL AND MOTOR VEHICLE ACCIDENTS

person dies because of impaired driving. (Nelson, & Naimi, 2000). Increasing awareness of drinking and driving and enforce stricter laws may be the key to the problem that our country is having. I want to do a study at Hofstra and figure out which students go out at night and how often, drink alcohol, drive a car, and etc. I believe that in forcing lower BAC from .08 to .06 will save more lives. Lowering BAC will influence teenagers to be smarter when it comes to consumption of alcohol. States that adopted 0.06% – 0.05% laws experienced a 6% greater decline in the proportion of drivers in fatal crashes with blood alcohol levels at 0.08% or higher there is a steady increase in drivers in fatal crashes. (Eensoo, Paaver, & Harro 2011). Lowering the BAC level will enact parents, and schools to re-iterate that driving under the influence will increase fatal car crashes not only yourself but to the citizens that are driving at that time.

Studies have shown that at 0.08% BAC driving performance is impaired. At 0.08%, there is reduced peripheral vision, poor recovery from glare, poorer performance on complex visual tracking, and reduced divided attention performance (Elder, et al., 2010). Other studies have been done to show the positive influence of lowering BAC levels to decrease the number fatal car accidents. .08 BAC used to be an effective BAC but when it comes down to it teenagers will still have a few more drinks than they should, which will already alter a teenagers mental capabilities. Changing the BAC to a lower level will stop that teenager from consuming more alcohol. .06 BAC is about 21/2 beers but it’s also based on a person’s body. (Wagenaar, O’Malley, & LaFond, 2000). Depending on the size of the person 3 beers may not alter person capabilities of driving. But for .08 a person is consuming almost 5 beers.

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Decreasing the BAC level will not only decrease the amount of impaired drivers but it can save more lives. Method Study Design

Impaired driving is a major issue in our country because it’s the leading cause of death in younger adults. Lowering the BAC level can help decrease impaired driving and reduce the number of deaths occurring. The reason this study is being conducting is because it’s providing new insight on previously done studies about reducing the BAC level. In quantitative research your aim is to determine the relationship between one item lowering BAC level which is the independent variable and another fatal car accident which is the dependent variable in a population. An online questionnaire was given to random students to reduce the risk of being bias. The analysis of studies previously done show that with a BAC of .08 compared to a BAC of .05 fatal car crashes is significantly reduced. Population Sample

The population that will be studied will be young adults between the ages of 16-24. The reason being is because that’s the age that is most common for drinking and driving. This study will focus on all teenagers’ males and females with any ethnicity and race. They were randomized to reduce the risk of being biased. To obtain the best data researcher’s want to have randomized selection of participants for this study. Previous studies show that allowing the study to be randomized increases the probability of receiving the best results. Even though being honest when it comes to these online surveys and any survey in general is the person taking the survey.

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isn’t necessarily speaking the truth. The other literature reviews have covered large cities to obtain better sample size and provide better evidence toward the author’s hypothesis that the current BAC level is not sufficient enough to reduce the risk of fatal car crashes. Investigative Techniques

Blood alcohol content should be reduced because it can save the lives of impaired and non-impaired drivers. The analysis of previously done studies and my online survey can verify that the present prevention techniques to drinking and driving don’t work. The next step should be lowering the BAC level should be the way to reduce the number of fatal car crashes. Having a BAC level of .08 allows people to have a few more drinks than they should, but lowering it to .06 will prevent that from occurring. The way to conduct this research is by having a few classes taught by people who have experienced drunk driving. This class will also have a police officer there to teach the people at Hofstra University community the consequences of driving will intoxicated. Teaching people in the community the importance of not drinking and driving is the goal. The independent variable was lowering the BAC level the dependent variable is fatal car crashes. All the independent variables were drinking prevention techniques, impaired driving, consequences of drinking and driving, BAC level reduction. The dependent variable was fatal car crashes because of drinking and driving. Instrumentation

Three questions that I will ask in the pilot test of my survey instrument that are pertinent to my study are: 1) On a local road with a speed limit of 30 mph, how often do you drive faster than 30 mph? 2) Which of the following statements best describes your attitude to drinking and 9 DECREASING BAC LEVEL AND MOTOR VEHICLE ACCIDENTS

driving? 3) How often do you use seat belts when you drive or ride in a car, van, sport utility vehicle or pick up? From these three questions I intend on seeing whether the participants fall into specific categories. Data Collection

The techniques that will be used to obtain the results of this study are online questionnaires. This survey was given randomly to students at Hofstra University. The survey consisted of both open and closed questions because receiving the best results to verify my hypothesis was the goal. These questions will be distributed via an online survey to a randomized sample of students at Hofstra University. Certain questions asked of they drive over the speed limit, drive over the speed limit, and attitude toward drinking and driving. People’s opinions and actions can change from their past to present.

Reference

Ensoo, D., Paaver, M., & Harro, J. (2011). Drunk driving among novice drivers, possible prevention with additional psychological module in driving school curriculum. Retrieved from
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3256821/ Elder, R. W. (2005). Effectiveness of school-based programs for. Retrieved from American Journal of Preventive Medicine, Elsevier Inc. http://www.thecommunityguide.org/mvoi/mvoi-AJPM-evrev-school-based.pdf doi:10.1016/j.amepre.2005.02.015 0749-3797/05 Taxman. , & Piquero, (1999). On preventing drunk driving recidivism:an examination of rehabilitation and punishment approaches. Retrieved from http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0047235297000755 Volume 26, Issue 2, Pages 129–143 10.1016/S0047-2352(97)00075-5 POLACSEK, M., ROGERS, E. M., WOODALL, W. G., & DELANEY, H. (2001). Madd victim impact panels and stages-of-change. Retrieved from Center on Alcoholism, Substance Abuse and Addictions, University of New Mexicohttp://www.jsad.com/jsad/downloadarticle/MADD_Victim_Impact_Panels_and_StagesofChange_in_DrunkDriving_Prevention/15 13.pdf J. Stud. Alcohol 62: 344–350, NM 87131-1171 Voas RB, Torres P, Romano E, Lacey JH. Alcohol-related risk of driver fatalities: an update using 2007 data. J Stud Alcohol Drugs 2012;73:341–50. Fell JC, Todd M, Voas RB. A national evaluation of the nighttime and passenger restriction components of graduated driver licensing. J Safe Res 2011;42:283–90. 11 DECREASING BAC LEVEL AND MOTOR VEHICLE ACCIDENTS

Vital signs: Drinking and driving among high school students aged ≥16 years — united states, 1991–2011. (2012, October 5). Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6139a5.htm?s_cid=mm6139a5_w