Killers On American Roads!

drunk-driving_on_american_roads Driving under the influence of alcohol is a serious criminal offense in the United States of America, but we hardly pay attention to it, don’t we? Of course, we cannot say no to drinks when we are in a party that is so happening, or if we see that probably tomorrow morning we are going to see ourselves on Page 3 section, dancing with some hot chick. But do we know that according to NHTSA, that’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, around 40 percent of the traffic deaths in US are alcoholic-related collisions. Now does that ring an alarm bell?

Laws against drunk driving in US, were first adopted in New York in 1910. And thereafter there are many other zero tolerance laws against drunk driving in US, but we still are in intoxicated state to understand the seriousness of this law. We drink hard and drive our cars erratically and crash into someone innocent, who suffers injuries and at times dies out of the drunkards carelessness. And the percentage of such cases are more with those age groups of 16 to 20.

America’s National Institute of Health has surveyed that most of these cases are with teenagers who drive recklessly under the influence of alcohol, that they consume at parties and under peer pressure. According to NIH, young people who started drinking before age 15, are more likely to develop alcohol dependence, which may lead to drunk driving collisions at a later stage.

CNN in one of its reports clearly states that there is an alcohol-related collision every 30 minutes in US. Other reports by NHTSA, show Rhode Islands and Wisconsin topping the list of traffic deaths due to consumption of alcohol, followed by Texas and South Carolina. Earlier, the ratio of traffic deaths due to alcohol-related crash was around 60 percent, which has been brought down by NIH, by implementing zero tolerance laws for those under the age of 21.

However, with such a high percentage of traffic deaths, legal authorities and law enforcers need to work more effectively to make sure the percentage drops down. Even we as active citizens of US, need to keep a check on our children and their activities and educated them on the horrific consequences of reckless driving, and advice them not to drive, if they drink at parties or pubs. We can make a difference, only if we actually intend to make difference. So are we ready to get HIGH today??