Drinking and Driving

Read and Reflection #19

Scholar:

Explain your thoughts on drunk driving?

Collegiate:

Analyze the alternatives to driving and drinking?

Genius:

Explain how the decision making model will help you make positive choices when it comes to alcohol.

Video

• Teen drunk driving

• What is your reaction after watching this video?

• Why do you think that individuals drive after they have consumed alcohol even though it is a risky behavior?

Death of an Innocent

• What are your feeling about this poem?

Objectives

• We are going to analyze the risks involved in consuming alcohol and/or other drugs and operating an automobile and identify ways avoid riding with someone or engaging in other risky behaviors with someone who is under the influence or other drugs.

• drunk driving

• two sisters

• What were your thoughts on these videos?

• How would you feel if you lost a loved one to drunk driving?

• How would you feel if you killed someone while driving drunk? Would you ever get over the guilt?

• What type of consequences are there for drivers who causes a death by alcohol?

Legal Consequences

• What is the legal driving while impaired (DWI) limit?

.08 blood alcohol level (BAL/BAC)

Can a driver be arrested and convicted of a DWI charge even though their BAL is below the legal limit?

Yes, all they have to prove is their driving ability is impaired; roadside sobriety test.

Think about it…

• What are the legal consequences for a DWI conviction?

• Is there a difference between the consequences for an adult and a teenager?

Adult and Teenagers DWI

Adult

Loss of drivers license for 1 year Loss of drivers license until 18 years of age

Fine Fine

Court costs Court cost

Lawyer fees Lawyer fees

Community service Community service

Car insurance triples Car insurance triples (teens insurance usually cost much more than adults)

Teen and Adults

• Why would the consequences be worse for a teen? (loss of license longer)

• What does zero tolerance mean?

• Does the Driving while Impaired law include other drugs that would affect an individuals driving ability?

North Carolina laws

• North Carolina ,along with some other states, has passed the “per se” laws, in which it is illegal to operate a motor vehicle if there is any detectable level of a prohibited drug, or it metabolites, in the drivers blood.

0 Tolerance

• Felony Conviction: jail time is guaranteed if someone dies in a drinking and driving accident no matter what the age of the driver.

Drivers who have been drinking:

• Feel more confident of self and driving skills

• Feel more aware and feel reflexes are better

• May drive faster than normal

How much alcohol?

• Pitcher

• Shot

• Beer glass

• Wine glass

• What glass will have more alcohol???

Drinking Facts

• When a person starts drinking, there is a substance in alcohol that goes to the judgmental center in the brain and blocks it.

• What does the judgment part of the brain do?

Alcohol increases…

• Unintentional injuries

• Physical fights (17.1 % will get into fights with family or friends

• Miss school

• Unprotected sexual activity (25.3%)

• Domestic or dating violence

• Sexual assault

• Abuse of other drugs

• Higher risks of suicide or homicide (alcohol is involved in over 50% of homicides and suicides)

2010 Statistics

• Car accidents are the leading cause of death for American teenagers.

• Approximately one-third to one-half of those accidents are alcohol-related.

• Over 2,000 young people die every year in alcohol-related car crashes.

• 18% of the drivers involved in fatal alcohol-related accidents were 16 – 20 year olds.

• 24 – 28 year olds accounted for 34% (the highest percentage), of drivers involved in fatal alcohol-related accidents.

2010 Statistics

• 30% of the young drivers (15 to 20 years old) who were killed in crashes had a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of .01 or higher.

• 25% of those young drivers had an .08 BAC.

Statistics

• 21% of high school students rode home in a car or vehicle with someone who had been drinking. (2011)

• 6.3% of high school students drove a car home when they had been drinking one or more times in the past 30 days. (2011) males more likely to do this than females.

• 17.6% of students had five or more drinks within the last 30 days. (2011)

StatisticsSince 2001, there has been a decrease in deaths

for alcohol-related car accidents.

2001 - 17,448

2008 - 11,071

2009 - 10,759

2010 - 10,228

The cumulative estimated number of lives saved by Minimum Drinking Age Laws: 28,230 lives since 1975.

Drinking and Driving Statistics

• Alcohol-related car accidents account for 32% of the deaths in car crashes.

• Every day, 32 people in the United States die in motor vehicle crashes that involve an alcohol-impaired driver.

• In 2010, one person was killed every 51 minutes in a alcohol-related car accident.

Young Drivers Fatally Injured

by Age and Percent

With BAC = .01 or Higher, 2010Age Number of Drivers Percent with BAC over .

01

15 48 15%16 172 15%17 283 21%18 480 26%19 495 36%20 485 40%

http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/Pubs/811622.pdf

Total young drivers killed = 1,025 in 2010.

Drugged Driving• The National Highway

Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reports that more than10,000 people are killed annually due to drunk and drugged driving.

• NHTSA estimates that drugs are used by approximately 10% to 22% of drivers involved in crashes, often in combination with alcohol.

Drugged Driving• According to the 2009 National Survey on Drug

Use and Health, an estimated

10.5 million people over the age of 12 reported driving under the influence of an illicit drug during the year prior to being surveyed.

Source: http://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/drugfacts/drugged-driving

•Vision: Alcohol relaxes eye muscles, which make it harder to focus and see clearly. Blurred vision is often a result of drinking alcohol.

•Reaction Time: Drinking alcohol slows down reaction time.

How would that affect a person’s driving ability?

Alcohol Effects

•Coordination: Drinking alcohol affects a person’s ability to do motor skills, such as catching a ball or walking in a straight line.

Is coordination required

to drive a car safely?

Alcohol Effects

• Low level – less than .06 BAL

• Moderate level – .07 - .10 BAL

• High – over .17 – .20 BAL

• Extreme – over .25 BAL

• Double Vision – over .20 BAL and some other drugs

Goggle Activities

• Did you make adjustments/changes when you drove with the goggles on?

Drove slower

Goggle Activities

• What is the difference between driving the golf cart and a car?• We were driving it much more slowly than we would

drive a car.• You could look over the edge to see the cones and

avoid them.• Some drivers stopped completely during the obstacle

course.• There were no oncoming traffic / ditches to avoid.

Goggle Activities

• You drove the with the Low Level goggles on.

How many drinks would that be for you?

http://www.intox.com/wheel/drinkwheel.asp

Goggle Activities

• Is a person’s driving ability affected at blood alcohol levels below .08 (the legal limit for DWI)?

• Is there a “safe” amount that a person can drink and drive?

Here’s the BIG QUESTION . . .

What would you do?

• Read each scenario and create realistic outcomes for each one.

• Write down if you were there how you could have been a positive influence in these situations.