According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), on average, every 50 minutes there is an alcohol impaired death due to drunk driving (Yoder 1). From the time you drive from Galveston beach to downtown Houston two people in the U.S. will have passed away due to drunk driving. Impaired driving or Drunk driving is operating a vehicle or motorcycle while having consumed alcohol or having alcohol in your bloodstream. Impaired driving is a major issue or epidemic in today’s society and has always been a major issue since the first brewery of alcohol, but there are solutions to this problem.
History
Alcohol is known to be recorded all the way back to 3500 B.C. The first ever gas-powered vehicle was created by Karl Benz in 1885/1886 (Who Invented the Automobile 1). Only a year later, the very first DUI recorded was by a 25-year-old taxi driver, George Smith, who drove his car into a building while intoxicated (Who got the first DUI ever? 1). 23 years later, in 1910, New York established the first alcohol related laws (First Drunk Driving Arrest 1). In 1936, a toxicology and biochemist professor by the name of Dr. Rolla Harger created the first “Drunkometer” (1). It was not like our typical breathalyzer you would see today; the breathalyzer that was created was a balloon-like device that people would breathe into to see how intoxicated they are. In a way, the device is the same as we use today but the technology nowadays is more advanced then what it was back then. In 1953, a former Indiana state police officer by the name of Robert Borkenstein, who was previously a professor at a university who collaborated with Harger and discussed the drunkometer, created the first true Breathalyzer (1). This device is the first scientifically tested device that was used in the field of the law, which tested the amount of alcohol in someone’s blood stream determining if they were too intoxicated to be driving a vehicle or not. Even though police officers used the breathalyzer, it did not occur to the people how dangerous it is to drink in drive until late 1970’s and early 1980’s (1). In 1980, a woman who lost her 13-year-old daughter in a car crash to a drunk driver created MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving), which is a non-profit organization that wants to stop drunk driving, underage drinking, and strives for stricter impaired driving policy whether it’s by drugs or alcohol (1). Even after all these incidents and all of the countless number of non-profit organizations besides MADD, we still have more manslaughter car accidents and other catastrophes that need to be stopped.
Social Effects
Many things people do not realize is how much alcohol can truly affect the human body. The way the human brain is affected by too much consumption of alcohol is that it can interfere with the brains communication with one side to the other making it cause mood change, behavior, and making harder to think clearly and disrupts your coordination (Alcohol’s Effects on the Body 1). When we drive, we do not realize how much we must think and be aware of what is around us because driving becomes second nature after many years on the road. However, when you take the ability to think clearly away, then you are risking your own life and anyone else’s life that is on the road or highway as well. Not only does alcohol effect how you think and your coordination, it slows down your central nervous system, or in other words, it slows your motor functions causing you to react at a slower rate not being able to react to certain situations meaning life or death (Wilcox 1). With alcohol affecting your brain, which is one of the most complex organs the human body, then why would we want to take that risk of getting in a car while intoxicated?
On April 6, 2017 the community, schools, and families were affected when little eight-year-old, Kelsey Nalepa, was taken from us due to a drunk driving accident. The female who caused the accident has had multiple accidents before where she was accused to have alcohol in her system, but nothing as serious as a life being lost. Kelsey had to be life-flighted to the hospital where she was operated. Doctors discovered she had fractures all throughout her skull and severed brain arteries making it difficult for the doctors to save her. When they finished the operation, they did everything they could to save her but she was only able to live if she was connected to the life support monitor and would remain unresponsive forever. On April 8, 2017, the Nalepa family decided to take her off life support. Shortly after being taken off life support, Kelsey passed away. During her funeral, we showed up a little early to see the Nalepa family to show our regards and respect, and while we were, seated people kept flowing into the church. People who did not know Kelsey were coming into the funeral. There were so many people that by the time the funeral started people were having to stand because of the amount of people that were in the room. We hear about these accidents all the time, but you truly do not realize the damage it causes to the families and community until you are in the middle of it. Many people like to state that we are only human, and people make mistakes, but these are not mistakes. These are bad decisions that can easily be prevented if we just put the alcohol down or let another person drive for them.
Examples
On February 25, 2006, Jessica Rasdall killed her best friend, Laura Gorman (Goldberg 1). The two women went to the club that night only to have fun between the two of them. When they showed up, the bar tender offered to buy them drinks knowing that they are underage. It was around 3 A.M. when the Laura and Jessica decided to leave the club. Getting in the car without even thinking twice Jessica drove both of them home on a 40-minute drive. When they were just one mile away from Laura’s dorm, Jessica went off the highway rolling down a hill and ended up hitting a tree on that same hill. Jessica found out when she was finally conscious at the hospital that she realized that Laura had died from the car crash. When it came down to the police report, Jessica had more than one and one-half times the legal limit in her bloodstream. She was charged with DUI manslaughter and was sentenced ten to 15 years in prison. If only they thought before getting into that vehicle that night about driving Laura Gorman just might be alive today in our world.
A man, whose name is not stated, was at fraternity party at the University of Maryland. He ended up meeting a young, high schooler, whose name is also not stated, and they ended up talking and hanging out with each other at that party. The young girl ended up losing her friends and the guy offered to give her a ride to wherever she needed. They both got into the car and started towards the girl’s house where she lived with her parents. Not far into the drive, the man swerved off the highway, hitting a concrete barrier, and smashed into a pole on the side of the road. The man was wearing his seatbelt being able to walk away from the crash unharmed, but the girl was not and ended up flying through the windshield which led to a wrongful death. The girl could have easily called her parents to come pick her up taking the consequences that the parents would punish her for instead of passing away that night. More importantly, though the man should have said no to driving knowing that he was too intoxicated to be driving any kind of vehicle instead, he “thought” he could make it there without any harm thinking nothing of it when sadly he was wrong.
Solutions
There are many technology advancements in today’s society that have worked in solving problems and some have not. All for different purposes but they have created some to solve the drunk driving issue. There is a device called Interlock Ignition that checks the alcohol level when a person gets into the vehicle (Motor Vehicle Safety 1). The vehicle will not start unless the driver blows into the mechanism and reads that the person is sober below the level 0.02 percent when the illegal limit for drinking and driving is 0.08 percent (Motor Vehicle Safety 1). Yes, it does make the driver be more sober than the illegal limit but this machine is not required in all vehicles. Either the main reason these inventions are put into vehicles is that the driver was in a previous accident with some alcohol consumed or if the driver is currently on probation having to make checkups with the law keeping them from drinking and driving.
These solutions that are created help our society but they do not make a big enough impact to cure the people who do these bad things. I do not think there is a solution to this epidemic as we are all humans who make bad choices and never see what can truly happen to us until it does happen to us. The inventions created to help solve this issue do not work. The change should be made by inserting the Interlock Ignition into all vehicles and instead of making the driver have a 0.02 percent blood alcohol content, it should be zero. Another solution to making sure these things do not happen is having a dry state instead of only having dry counties. If we would just take away the item that is causing harm then it would solve almost all issues. It would not solve all of the car crashes dealing with alcohol because people would break the law and still get alcohol illegally just like people get drugs illegally, but we cannot stop all bad things that happen in our society.
Camus and Absurdity
Camus, who was an Atheist, was a philosopher who believed that life had no meaning or purpose and that everything that happens should be questioned almost as a rebellious act (The Hollowverse 1). He is also one to think that life is absurd. He states, “We turn toward God only to obtain the impossible”, saying that we turn to a god who “does not exist” and having any religious beliefs, is again, absurd (The Hollowverse 1). Albert Camus believes that the only thing that is wrong with this world is suicide and he wonders if people attempt suicide to escape the absurdity of our world.
Since Camus thought that life had no meaning, he would be one of the many who would drink and drive and not worry or care about the dangers of drinking and driving. He most likely would be an alcoholic not caring about anything he does whether he puts himself or others in harm’s way. Drinking and driving is a way for some to commit suicide so while being impaired they are not fully aware of what they are doing but have intentions in the actions they are committing. Camus beliefs would be tied together as he would question if the reason this happen is it because the alcohol or just a bad driver? He would also wonder if that person-committed suicide did their actions to leave the absurdity that goes on in society.
Camus take in the thought of drinking and driving quite a bit. Questioning on why we do these certain actions to ourselves. Asking if we do things for no reason or care or to escape this world as Camus believes there is no purpose to life.
Conclusion
In 2011, 9,878 people were either a victim or the driver in an accident caused death that was due to drinking and driving (MADD 1). That was 7 years ago. There is no telling what the numbers are now with the multiple deaths and crashes that you hear about all around the world, state, and in your community. We need to stop these horrific actions and stop all of the killing and all of the manslaughters before the next accident could be you.
Work Cited
“Alcohol's Effects on the Body.” National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,www.niaaa.nih.gov/alcohol-health/alcohols-effects-body.
“Drunk Driver of Auto Accident Tells Story of Crash to Others.” Law Offices of Michael Pines, APC, 7 June 2010, seriousaccidents.com/blog/drunk-driver-tells-story-of-fatal-auto-accident/.
“Facts + Statistics: Alcohol-Impaired Driving.” Facts + Statistics: Alcohol-Impaired Driving | III, www.iii.org/fact-statistic/facts-statistics-alcohol-impaired-driving.
"First Drunk Driving Arrest - Sep 10, 1897." HISTORY.com, Sept. 10, www.history.com/this-day-in-history/first-drunk-driving-arrest.
Goldberg, Alan B. “Drunken Driving Crash Shattered Teen's Life.” ABC News, ABC News Network, 2 June 2009, abcnews.go.com/2020/story?id=7726721&page=1.
“Motor Vehicle Safety.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 22 Mar. 2016,www.cdc.gov/motorvehiclesafety/impaired_driving/strategies.html.
“The Hollowverse.” Albert Camus' Religion and Political Views, hollowverse.com/albert-camus/.
“Who got the first DUI ever?” Who got the first DUI ever? - Quora, www.quora.com/Who-got-the-first-DUI-ever.
“Who Invented the Automobile?” Who Invented the Automobile? (Everyday Mysteries: Fun Science Facts from the Library of Congress),www.loc.gov/rr/scitech/mysteries/auto.html.
Wilcox, Stephen. “Driving While Impaired -- Alcohol and Drugs.” National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, www.ncadd.org/about-addiction/driving-while-impaired-alcohol-and-drugs.
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