Every car should have a built in breathalyzer

Drinking and Driving Ashley Kullar & Roop Dhinjal
Today we will be discussing the major issue of drinking and drinking and what action we can take to prevent it. Millions of people over the world do it and everyone in this room has most likely witnessed it whether it be a stranger at a restaurant or even one of your family members or friends. In 2014 it was reported that this senseless crime took an average of 11,000 innocent lives due to drinking and driving. No mother, no father, no son, no daughter, no sibling should ever have to receive a phone call saying that their loved one was take away because of someone's irresponsible actions which could be 100% preventable. This all could been changed if we all took some small actions.

Driving a car sober causes enough accidents annually as it is, deciding to get behind the wheel when you judgement is impaired by alcohol is just a recipe for disaster. When under the influence of alcohol your cognitive thinking is impaired because your brain cannot process information as it normally would. When your cognitive thinking is effected you will have difficulty walking, blurred vision, slurred speech, slower reaction time, impaired memory which makes it very clear that no one should be drinking in this state of mind. "DUI is the crime of driving a motor vehicle while impaired by alcohol or other drugs including those prescribed by physicians, to a level that renders a driver incapable from operating a motor vehicle safely". This act could land you in jail or get your license and car taken away. You can legally drink alcohol and drive but there is a major misconception on how much you can drink. Your blood alcohol content should be less than 0.8%. We all react to alcohol differently because of our weight, gender and body fat. For example if you were a women and had two glasses of wine and one shot in the course of 2 hours and weighted 125 pounds you would be legally impaired. Getting a DUI is a minor consequence when it comes to drinking and driving. Driving drunk has much more severe outcomes. When you decide to put your keys in the ignition while you've been drinking you are risking your life and the innocent lives of the others on the road at all times of the day. Not only do drink drivers kill they also severely injure people. In 2010 it was estimated that about 300,000 individuals were injured in the motor vehicle crashes due to being impaired. Drinking and driving doesn't only hurt the victim and the driver. If something happened to either of them a whole families life would be drastically altered and they would have to mourn the loss of someone who died for a reason that could have been prevented. It's not only who the driver can hurt, they could kill themselves or hurt themselves as well. If the driver does kill someone else they will have serious psychological damage for the rest of their lives. People often think I couldn't happen to them or they'll be fine but in that state of mind you are out of control of your actions.




So what's the solution? How can we make 11,000 deaths annually to 0? Since one third of the people getting DUI'S each year are repeat offenders they are obviously not learning so we believe that in order for us to protect ourselves every car should have a built-in Breathalyzers. By having a Breathalyzer in everyone's cars this would only save lives. Yes, it may be a hassle for someone to do it every time they want to drive their car but would they rather have that then get a phone call saying that their child has passed away because of a drunk driver? Having Breathalysers in every car would be expensive but is it not worth protecting your safety and your families? Besides, we would be saving money in that there would be less deaths, less medical bills, court and jail time and fees. This would stop drunks from doing damage and it would make people feel save in their environment. What can everyone in this class do? Firstly, we can make sure that if our family is going out and drinking they either have a destinated driver or take a cab, understand how much alcohol can be consumed for your specific body in order for you to be able to drive safely and set limits for yourself.

Even though none of us are legal to drink right now we want to end off by stating that teens and young adults aged 16-25 who are involved in motor vehicle accident 45% of them are caused by being under the influence. We wanted to bring this to your attention because most of you are getting your licenses and some you already do have them. We encourage you to make the responsible decisions not only for yourself but for others around you. There's so many reasons to drive safe, avoid embarrassment, keep your driver's license, avoid fines, stay out of jail, prevent senseless injury and death. We don't need to add to the growing statistics of deaths and injuries caused by drunk driving.