Everyone has made important decisions in their lives. In most cases, if the decision you make is wrong, you may be able to go back and correct it. However, one of the worst decisions you can make is drinking alcohol and driving. Drinking and driving will be one of the biggest mistakes of your life.
Drunk driving is considered a serious crime in the United States. It is unjust, irresponsible and takes thousands of lives every year. People who choose to drink alcohol and drive endanger public safety, create carnage on the nation's roadways, and hurt everyone around them. It is our society's duty to discipline these threats on our roadways and to take authority over this problem. America shouldn't be watching silently as hundreds of people are killed each day by drunk drivers.
To determine the concentration of alcohol in the body at any given time, it is necessary to find the blood alcohol concentration (BAC), which measures the percentage of alcohol in the blood. Consuming a small amount of alcohol may cause some slight effects on a person's behavior and understanding. There are seven very important ways that alcohol affects the body, each one having a direct effect on a person's driving ability. First, it affects a person's reaction time and keeping the car's position on the road. It also affects attention, comprehension of what you see and hear, and your vision. Also, alcohol affects the coordination of your hands and feet. Some examples of this are lane tracking, steering, speed control, braking, gear changing, judgements of speed, and safe stopping distances. When a person consumes more alcohol than his or her body can immediately eliminate, alcohol accumulates in the bloodstream and the BAC increases.
A BAC of only .05 percent begins to impair thoughts and judgements and may affect vision. A driver with this BAC makes increased steering errors. At a BAC of .08 percent, a drinker's motor skills become seriously impaired.
