Introduction
Twenty-nine people are tragically killed every day by drunk driving (Yoder 1). Alcohol impairs one’s senses, causing a person to have less control over their actions. When operating a vehicle under the influence of alcohol, an individual is at a higher risk of losing control of the vehicle and crashing. Many people do not consider the consequences at stake when they operate a vehicle after consuming alcohol. What would you do if you and your family were hit by a drunk driver and your loved ones died but the drunk driver lived? What would you do if you were the person who caused the death of an innocent child because you decided to drive drunk? In the United States, it is illegal to drive with a blood alcohol concentration, BAC, of a .08 or higher. However, law enforcement is not capable of catching every single person in violation of this law. This is an epidemic that is in great need of a solution. With an average of ten thousand lives lost a year due to drunk driving, a stop needs to be put to this worldwide problem (1).
History
The first drunk driving arrest dates back to 1897 in London when taxi cab driver, George Smith, drove his car into a building (First Drunk Driving Arrest 1). In America thirteen years later, the first laws prohibiting drunk driving were put into effect in New York (1). In 1939, Indiana was the first state to make a law requiring one’s BAC level to be under .15 to operate a vehicle (A Short History of Drunk Driving 1). That is almost two times the national legal limit today which is .08. Forty-one years later, Candy Lightner created the organization Mothers Against Drunk Driving, or MADD, after her thirteen-year-old daughter was killed by a drunk driver while walking home from school (1). Mothers Against Drunk Driving is a nonprofit organization that aims to put an end to drunk driving. From the time automobiles were invented, driving while intoxicated has been a serious and growing problem.
In 1936, a balloon-like device called the Drunkometer, which people would breathe into to see if they were intoxicated, was invented by Dr. Rolla Harger (First Drunk Driving Arrest 1). This invention was a large step in putting an end to drunk driving. However, the Drunkometer still had many flaws. Seventeen years later, the breathalyzer was developed by a former Indiana state police captain and university professor (1). This was the first device police could easily use to see if someone was too drunk. The breathalyzer is a device you blow into and it can calculate how much alcohol you have consumed. The number it shows on it is your BAC, which is how police determine if you are too intoxicated to drive or not. If you have a BAC of .08 or above, it is considered illegal for you to operate a motor vehicle.
In the United States, 10,497 people were killed in drunk driving automobile crashes in 2016 (Drunk Driving Fatalities 1). About every fifty minutes a person is killed in a drunk driving accident (Drunk Driving 1). That equals up to about twenty-nine lives lost each day because of drunk driving. In the case of a crash involving a drunk driver, the victim of the other car is more likely to get injured than the drunk driver. This is because of the effect alcohol has on an individual’s body. When under the influence of alcohol, a person’s senses are lessened, reactions are slower, and their body is more relaxed. Therefore, when they get in a car crash their body is more accepting to the impact compared to the victim’s whose body is fully aware of what is going on. It is truly a tragedy this many victims die yearly from drunk driving accidents. In 2011, a total of 1,140 children of the age fourteen or younger were killed by a drunk driving collision (Drunk driving statistics 1). It is sad this many children get their futures ripped away because someone decided to make a stupid mistake and drive drunk while knowing the risks. For over a century, drunk driving has been a growing issue and needs to be stopped.
Social Effect
Drunk driving has an egregious effect on our society. In our nation, forty percent of traffic deaths are alcohol related (Alcohol Driving 1). Drinking and driving is a nationwide epidemic taking away the life of a United States citizen every fifty minutes (Drunk Driving 1). That means a mother or father is losing a child every fifty minutes. A brother or sister is losing their sibling every fifty minutes. A child is losing their parent every fifty minutes. Driving under the influence of alcohol takes away too many precious and innocent lives.
In 2012, Texas had the tenth highest drunk driving rate out of all fifty states (Calio 1). According to the National Highway Safety Traffic Administration’s (NHTSA) National Center for Statistics and Analysis, “nearly 1,300 people in Texas died in drunk driving accidents in 2012, more than in any other state” (1). Since Texas is so large, there is more room for this serious crime to happen. In 2012, Texas law enforcement officers arrested 85,436 people for drunk driving, which was more than every other state except California (1). Many people who party and drink will share that on social media, then will later get arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol. When they have publicly shared their actions before driving, the photos can be used as evidence showing the person did in fact consume alcohol while out and then drove home. Many underage people post photos on social media of them drinking. A large number of those photos show underage people drinking while in a vehicle. It is very upsetting to see this because people do not realize how much damage they can cause by operating a vehicle while intoxicated.
In our community over the past year, the drinking and driving epidemic has exploded due to an unfortunately fatal crash. The crash was caused by a drunk driver and sadly killed an eight-year-old girl whom I personally knew. Since this crash happened, our community has been more aware of the effects of drunk driving. However, it is tragic that it took this crash occurring for people to become more aware of what happens when you drink and drive.
Examples
In 2017, a three-year-old boy was hit and killed by a vehicle in San Bernardino, California. Authorities believe the woman was drunk when the incident happened and she has a history of DUIs (McMillan 1). Court documents show the woman, Crystal Fuentes, has three DUI convictions, six arrests for possession or being under the influence of a controlled substance, and nine drunk in public arrests prior to the accident killing the little boy (1). Sadly, it took an innocent child dying for her to be sent to prison after all these previous convictions. Fuentes was charged with one count of each of the following felonies:
- Murder
- Vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated
- Driving while under the influence of alcohol with prior convictions
- Driving with a .08 percent BAC with prior convictions
- Driving when privilege suspended for prior DUI conviction (1).
Memorials were created to honor the life of the toddler and a GoFundMe was created to help pay for the boy’s funeral (McGarth 1).
In Broward County, Florida, Admerson Cleber Eugenio Vicente-Vicente drove in the wrong lane and caused a head-on collision with another vehicle on Interstate-95 in 2015 (Huriash 1). The crash horrifically killed two sisters who were in the other vehicle on the scene. After testing, it was determined Vicente-Vicente had a BAC level of over two times the legal limit (1). The decision to drive drunk and cause the death of sisters is a decision Vicente-Vicente will regret for the rest of his life.
April 6, 2017, the Nalepa family’s lives changed forever. Eight-year-old Kelsey; her mother, Nicole; and father, Marcus, were all driving to the League City Sportsplex on 518 to go to her softball game. They came upon bumper to bumper traffic that was stopped still. As they pulled up to the car in front of them, Marcus said “I should have turned onto The Landing to avoid this traffic.” Seconds after, a SUV slammed into the back of their Ford Expedition. The impact of the collision caused the Nalepa’s car to collide into the cars in front of them and get pushed seventy feet. Marcus was in the driver’s seat during the crash and the force of the cars colliding caused his seat to break. When the collision stopped, Marcus and Nicole turned towards the back seat behind Marcus where Kelsey was sitting in her booster seat to make sure she was alright. Kelsey was unconscious with her head slumped over and blood coming out of her nose. Marcus quickly got out of the car and picked Kelsey up. Holding her body in his arms, he carried her around yelling for someone to help and Nicole stayed close. A nurse who had stopped to help ran to Marcus to help Kelsey. When the nurse tried to get Kelsey’s pulse there was hardly one at all, so she started CPR immediately. Soon after the ambulance arrived and continued to assist Kelsey. A Life-Flight helicopter was called to rush Kelsey to the hospital. The only thing the EMS people would tell Nicole and Marcus is “She was better than when they first got there”. As Kelsey was life-flighted to the hospital, her grandparents drove her parents to meet her at the hospital. The doctors conducted immediate neurosurgery on Kelsey and discovered a main artery in her brain was majorly severed. Her brain was bleeding and swelling which was pushing against her skull causing more damage. There was nothing the doctors could do during surgery that would make a difference. She was put on life support and had multiple neurological tests to see if her brain had any activity. Every test came back negative and the doctors had to deliver the news that Kelsey was brain dead. Being brain dead means your brain can not function at all and can not control all the other major organs in your body. The only thing keeping Kelsey alive was the life support, but she would have to stay on it for the rest of her life and she would never wake up. On April 8, 2017, Kelsey was taken off life support.
The Nalepa’s accident was caused by a woman named Erika Diebel. It was alleged she was drunk, but she refused a breathalyzer test. After the collision Diebel caused, she stepped out of her vehicle with her purse and just stood there. She did not attempt to help or anything. She just stood there. Since she refused the breathalyzer, police were not able to arrest her on scene. However, the police department got a warrant to get a blood sample from Diebel to find her BAC. Weeks after the accident it was determined Diebel had a BAC of .249, which is over three times the legal limit. When those results came in, Diebel was immediately arrested and her bond was set at 100,000 dollars. Her family paid the bond and she was released. She has mandatory court appearances monthly so the court can keep track of her and her actions. Later, it was determined she had been drinking all day and was driving to pick up her son from Karate practice when the accident happened. This was her fourth drunk driving offense, but she got away clean with the first three. Her ex-husband filed for sole custody of their two children to prevent Diebel causing harm to them like she did Kelsey. It was also determined the night of the accident, she was drinking and partying while saying “looks like I got away with it again.”
The past year was spent collecting all the evidence possible. A court date had been set for January 29, 2018. However, a new piece of evidence was discovered. The evidence was from a Walmart security camera that captured before, during, and after the entire accident. The security video is a very influential piece of evidence to be used in the trial. However, the defense had not seen the video and motioned for a continuance. The motion was granted, and the trial date was moved to April 30, 2018. The trial will determine if Diebel will be punished for her actions or ruled innocent and be released. The Nalapa’s are also suing Diebel for 100,000 dollars for the death of their child and Ford motor company 100,000 dollars for seat failure.
Because of the trauma Kelsey endured, she did not look like herself. Her face was extremely swollen and purple from the bruising. Some of her hair had to be shaven off for surgery. I will never forget this horrific incident and the precious girl who was take taken away from us far too soon. Hundreds of people attended for memorials and funeral to honor the life and remembrance of our sweet Kelsey. Because of an idiotic decision a grown woman made to drive drunk, the life of a beloved eight-year-old child’s life was ripped away.
Solutions
Before cars, there was no solution for drunk driving. This is simply because drunk driving did not exist because cars did not exist. In the late 1800’s, gasoline powered cars started becoming more and more popular as they were starting to be produced (Automobile History 1). From then on, drunk driving has been a growing problem. When cars were first invented, people did not realize the dangers of driving their automobile after they had been drinking. As time went on some people became aware of those dangers. Sadly, it took lives being lost for the states to realize drunk driving was a grave issue and that laws needed to be made to prevent it.
The states began to take action in putting a stop to intoxicated driving. Starting with Indiana, states set forth laws and consequences for drunk driving incidents (A Short History of Drunk Driving 1). Every state has different laws regarding drunk driving, but most are similar. Over time, the laws have altered to fit what we have learned about alcohol and mixing it with operating a vehicle. All of these laws and their consequences were made to prevent drunk driving as much as possible. As time goes on, drunk driving has become a large and serious problem. Here in Texas, there is a wide range of offenses and consequences relative to drunk driving. Those laws and their consequences are as followed:
- For one’s first offense, it is considered a misdemeanor and they are subject to a fine of up to 2,000 dollars, 72 hours to 180 days in jail, and 90 to 365 days of license suspension (Texas DWI Laws 1). The penalties increase is the person is found to have a BAC of .15 or higher or have an open container in the vehicle (1).
- For one’s second offense, it is considered a misdemeanor and they are subject to 4,000 dollars in fines, 30 to 365 days in jail, and 180 days to 2 years of license suspension (1).
- For one’s third offense, intoxication manslaughter, or intoxication assault, it is considered a felony and they are subject to 10,000 dollars in fines, two to ten years in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ), and up to two years of license suspension (1).
- For a person’s DWI with a child passenger of the age of 15 or younger, it is a state jail felony and they are subject to 10,000 dollars in fines, six months to two years in a state jail facility, and 90 days to two years of license suspension (1).
These current solutions only work to an extent. For people who choose to drink and drive, they believe they can get away with it. If they are caught, they do not care about the minimal penalties they must pay. Since they are not phased by the cost the must pay because it is so small, they are likely to commit the crime again. This completely defeats the purpose of having those laws because it is not stopping most people.
Although Texas has these laws and every other state has similar laws, it is still not preventing drunk driving as much as it should be. According to the Life Safer staff, a research survey conducted by Rasmussen Reports showed “46 percent of Americans believe our current drunk driving laws are not tough enough, 39 percent believe they are just about right, and only 9 percent of surveyors feel our current state laws are too tough” (Are Our Drunk Driving Laws Strict Enough 1). Laws and their penalties should be written strongly enough so as it be a deterrent to those who choose to drive while intoxicated. However, it seems those laws are not strict enough and the action taken when encountering a person driving drunk has become a “catch and release” type of situation. A family friend of mine was arrested for drunk driving. In his case he stayed in jail only until the next morning, paid little to no fines, and had his license suspended for less than a month. This was his first offense and he still did not have near the amount of penalties Texas law says he should have. Approximately 50 to 75 percent of drunk drivers continue to drive on a suspended license (Lehnardt 1). Also, an average person drives drunk 80 times before their first arrest (1). The laws need to be increased and amplified to make any change at all in solving this epidemic. Only then will people realize the dangers of driving drunk and be more willing to drive sober and make smarter choices. It should not take losing a life for people to realize how extremely serious of a matter this is.
Camus and Absurdity
Camus was a man who believed life had no meaning and that it was all absurd (Maquire 1). He thought there was only one main problem in life and it is suicide (1). Camus himself said “But in the end one needs more courage to live than to kill himself” (Albert Camus Quotes 1) . Since he believed life has no meaning, Camus would probably also agree drunk driving is unimportant and would not worry or care about its dangers. We all have to die someday and who knows what it will be from. Drunk driving would be considered just the normal absurdity of life to him. However, thinking deeper into why people drink and drive would fascinate Camus. He would strive to figure out if people choose to drive drunk for no reason or if they choose to drive drunk because the know the consequences and are using it as suicide.
Camus tried to understand why people spent time trying to find the meaning of life through different things and thought it was absurd for human life (Maquire 1). He wondered if suicide was the only rational response to the absurdity of life or not (1). Camus possibly would consider drunk driving to be a suicidal attempt, or to be an act of suicide. Since he questioned whether life was worth living, drunk driving more than likely would mean nothing to him. He would probably drink and drive without worry because of what he believes.
Laws preventing drunk driving would be considered part of life’s absurdity. Since Camus believed our lives are meaningless and would forever remain so regardless of what a person believes, drunk driving meant nothing. He thought life did not matter so it is understandable of why he would not care about the dangers of drunk driving.
Conclusion
Approximately more than 10,000 people tragically die every year due to drunk driving (Drunk Driving 1). People make a conscious decision to drive drunk and put their life and every other life around them at risk. This epidemic is a serious and fatal problem in dire need of a working solution.
Works Cited
“A Short History of Drunk Driving.” DADO Article - Short History Of Drunk Driving,www.drinkinganddriving.org/Articles/historyof.html.
about, Rob McMillan bio. “Woman charged with murder in death of 3-Year-Old boy due to DUI history.” ABC7 Los Angeles, 1 May 2017, abc7.com/news/woman-charged-with-murder-in-death-of-3-year-old-boy-due-to-dui-history/1942428/.
“Albert Camus > Quotes.” Albert Camus Quotes (Author of The Stranger), www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/957894.Albert_Camus.
“Alcohol Driving - Drinking And Driving Effects.” The Alcoholism Guide, www.the-alcoholism-guide.org/alcohol-driving.html.
“Are Our Drunk Driving Laws Strict Enough? • LifeSafer.” LifeSafer, LifeSafer, 19 Nov. 2012, www.lifesafer.com/blog/are-dui-laws-strict-enough/.
Calio, Vince. “States With the Most Drunk Driving.” 247wallst.Com, 29 Apr. 2014, 247wallst.com/special-report/2014/04/25/states-with-the-most-drunk-driving/2/.
“Drunk Driving Fatalities.” Responsibility.org, www.responsibility.org/get-the-facts/research/statistics/drunk-driving-fatalities/.
“Drunk driving statistics.” Alcohol Alert, 7 Jan. 2018, www.alcoholalert.com/drunk-driving-statistics.html.
“First Drunk Driving Arrest.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, www.history.com/this-day-in-history/first-drunk-driving-arrest.
History.com Staff. “Automobile History.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 2010, www.history.com/topics/automobiles.
Lehnardt, Karen. "46 Tragic Facts about Drunk Driving | FactRetriever.com." FactRetriever | Interesting Facts for the Curious Mind. 13 Jun 2017. Web. <http://www.factretriever.com/drunk-driving-facts>.
Maguire, Laura. "Camus and Absurdity | Philosophy Talk." Philosophy Talk | The program that questions everything...except your intelligence.. 27 Feb 2015. Web. <http://www.philosophytalk.org/blog/camus-and-absurdity>.
“Texas DWI Laws: Facts, Jail Time & Penalties – DWI Guide.” Texas DWI Laws: Facts, Jail Time & Penalties - DWI Guide, www.dwi-texas.com/texas-dwi-penalties/.
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