Drinking and Driving - Drunk Drivers Kill!
Holiday Drinking
means extra driving precautions
| Even if your not
Drinking and
Driving that doesn't mean that that everyone else is sober.
Use extra caution when driving this holiday season. |
 |
Drinking and Driving Don't Mix! Drunk Drivers Kill more and more people every
year. Many states are making tougher laws about Drinking and Driving but that
doesn't mean that people will stop doing it. This year be extra cautious of Drunk
Drivers
Holidays at any time of the year do not involve alcohol at my house but that
doesn't mean that the rest of the world quit drinking. The following information
is primarily for the non-alcoholic.
The Christmas-New Year's holidays
are one of the most dangerous periods of the year on our streets and highways because so
many people foolishly try to mix drinking alcoholic beverages and driving automobiles and
other vehicles.
It is estimated than between
Thanksgiving and New Year's Day, close to 2,000 people are killed in traffic crashes
involving automobiles.
Fortunately, a combination of
tougher laws, awareness campaigns and changing public attitudes has had a positive impact
on the drunk driving problem.
|
| The
number of arrests for DUI decreased from a peak of 1,613,000 in 1983 to 1,033,000 in 1995.
At the same time, the percentage of alcohol related fatal accidents has dropped from 57
percent in 1982 to 41 percent in 1995. |
| Unfortunately, there
is bad news as well. For the first time in six years, the number of people between the
ages of 15 and 20 killed in alcohol related accidents went up.
Safety officials say 2,315 youngsters in
their late teens died in DUI accidents. |
|
Not many persons
think too intelligently after a few drinks, so the only way to guard against trouble is to
plan ahead.
If you're going to drink during the
holidays, plan to stay were you are drinking or have someone who is sober available to
take you home.
Contrary to what some persons
think, physical exercise, black coffee, fresh air, cold showers and other popular theories
for sobering up fast don't work. As one authority put it, these methods at best will
result only in a wide-awake drunk.
In addition to individuals taking
responsibility for their own behavior, good friends can save lives by taking the car keys
of acquaintances who have had too much to drink.
Party hosts and hostesses can set
the right kind of tone by setting limits on drinking and by providing ample alternatives
to liquor, beer and wine such as alcohol-free egg nog and hot cider, soft drinks and fruit
punch. |
