Why Do People Drink and Drive: An Investigation

Why Do People Drink and Drive: An Investigation
Why Do People Drink and Drive: An Investigation

We all understand the power of giving a speech. Sometimes we are provided with an opportunity to talk to people that we want to convince to take action. When we give speeches like this we need to take the time to craft a speech that is going to cause our audience to become dissatisfied with the way that their life is and make them want to make changes. These speeches are not easy to create. Let’s take a look at how we could get people to take action to stop drinking and driving.

Drunk driving still happens on a regular basis.

You wouldn’t think so, with all of the tickets, jail time, and unnecessary deaths that have occurred over the years as a result of people getting behind the wheel while intoxicated. Fairly consistently, however, you see about 30% of all car accident fatalities every year attributed to drunk driving.

Most average people know that it’s dangerous for everyone on the road to drive drunk, so why do people drink and drive?

Today, in order to make sense of these staggering numbers, we’re going to investigate some of the reasons why people drink and drive. It’s one of our most preventable causes of death, but still among the leaders in this country. Let’s find out what’s going on.

Why Do People Drink and Drive?

Obviously, it’s no secret that alcohol has a tendency to make people do regrettable things. Once convicted, it’s tough to come back from a DWI. If you feel that you’ve been wrongfully convicted, contact a Collin Country DWI defense attorney to get your case resolved. 

Otherwise, you’ve got to take your punishment, which could range from community service to a license suspension, or jail time. Some things you can’t take back and drunk driving is one of them, so why do it at all?

They Thought They Were Fine

An overwhelming number of the people that are pulled over for drinking and driving give the painfully obvious excuse of thinking they were fine. Maybe it was only a few drinks, but alcohol affects the brain on a chemical level, so your ability to reason, process events, and react is going to be altered.

Legally, you have to stay under the 0.08 blood alcohol level. By claiming that you thought you were fine, you’re maintaining a certain amount of ignorance to the law. Unless you do a breathalyzer before you start driving, you don’t know what your blood alcohol level is.

Your body is a delicate ecosystem. If you’re 150 lbs and you’ve had three drinks on an empty stomach, you’re going to feel the effects of the alcohol even if you don’t perceive it that way.

Not Far From Home

Most drinking and driving cases involve people that aren’t out at bars or restaurants but at family gatherings or friends’ houses. Being “close to home” is one of the biggest justifications people tell themselves when driving drunk. It’s no coincidence that a lot of drunk driving also happens in small towns.

Where it’s legal, police will set up sobriety checkpoints during holidays to prevent drinking and driving. Unfortunately, in most areas, law enforcement doesn’t have the resources to set this up on a regular basis, so it’s integral that citizens report erratic driving when they see it.

If you’re out at a family member or friend’s house, it’s always a better idea to leave your car and come back for it the next day. This is especially true in smaller towns where it’s easy to get a ride across town if you need to. There’s no sense in risking your and other’s safety, even if you’re only a short drive away.

Didn’t Think They’d Be Caught

A lot of drunk drivers simply didn’t think they’d be caught. There’s evidence to suggest that the majority of those convicted of drunk driving had done it hundreds of times prior to getting caught. There’s no way to officially track this, but it’s a terrifying thought.

Alcohol has a way of making you feel invincible and if you develop a dependency on it, you’ll start to operate the same way drunk as you do sober. As you get more and more confidence behind the wheel while intoxicated, the thing inside your head that tells you “this is a bad idea” starts to fade away.

No one is invincible and your decision to drive drunk because you didn’t think you’d be caught isn’t a good one. The more you do it, the higher the likelihood that you’ll get pulled over and charged.

No Alternatives

It’s true that public transportation is lacking in many cities, but that’s still not a good excuse to drink and drive. In larger places, you’ve got buses, trains, and subways to get you from place to place, so the need to use a car while you’re out drinking is far less. 

With taxis all over America and uber in so many cities now, there’s no valid excuse to drink and drive. If you’re planning on a night of drinking, also plan to get to and from your destination with a taxi. 

Sometimes you drive to an event and end up having a few drinks unexpectedly, which is where most people find themselves “stranded”. It’s not worth the risk of driving home when you can easily get a ride or taxi home and pick up your car the next day. The immediate inconvenience is better than a long term one.

How to Prevent It

Answering the question, “why do people drink and drive” isn’t easy. Part of it has to do with the massive substance abuse problem that we’ve got in this country, but part of it is complete ignorance of the law on some people’s parts.

None of the reasons that we talked about in this post are valid reasons to drink and drive, but they’re the most commonly cited ones. In fact, there are no good reasons to drink and drive because the best-case scenario is that you make it home safe once more. The worst-case scenario is that you kill yourself or someone else.

A lot of repeat offenders keep drinking and driving because nobody around them pipes up to tell them it’s a bad idea. If you know someone that drinks and drives on a regular basis, let them know why they should reconsider. It’s worth the awkwardness and it might save their life in the end.