Drinking and Driving

On August 31, 1997 Princess Diane was involved in a car accident that ultimately took her life. Diane was a symbol of hope for millions of people all over the world. You may not know this but, alcohol was one of the causes of her death. The driver of the car had a blood alcohol level 4 times the legal limit in England. Drinking while under the influence is a crime that 2 out of every 5 Americans will be involved in as stated in the Vital Drinking and Driving Facts sheet located on the Internet. This means that in this class alone 3 to 4 of us will be involved in a drinking and driving situation sometime in our lives. In this speech I will cover some of the aspects alcohol has on the body, some myths about alcohol, and some of the consequences of drinking and driving in the hope of persuading you to think before you let yourself or someone you know drive while intoxicated past the legal limit.

First of all lets take a look at some of the effects alcohol has on the body. Alcohol has short and long term effects on the body. To begin lets take a look at the short term effects. Alcohol can have the following short term effects on your body:

You may experience nasusea, and vomiting because the alcohol irritates the stomach.

It impairs information processing in the brain

It can cause vision and coordination problems.

It also causes you to make bad judgments.

Now that we have taken a look at some of the short term effects lets take a look at some of the long term effects.

It can cause independence.

Brain damage such as memory loss or emotional instability

Erratic behavior

and health problems such as liver and heart disease as well as hepatitis.

Now that we have taken a look at the short and long term effects of alcohol lets take a look at the myths about drinking and driving. There are three common myths about drinking and driving. 1) Some people who have been drinking still can handle driving. The fact is that most people who make this deadly error problem said the same thing. 2) You can sober up easily before you drive. Once alcohol is in the blood stream you drunk until the concentration drops. 3) It's OK to drive after drinking beer because you don't get as drunk. A 12oz beer, wine cooler, and a 5oz glass of wine all contain 1/2oz of alcohol.

Next lets look at the consequences of drinking and driving. There are several things that can happen to someone that is drinking and driving. First of all someone may get killed in a alcoholic related accidents. Alcohol related accidents are the leading cause of death among people ages 15-24. This means that a majority of the people in this room are more likely to die from a alcohol related accident than we are drugs, guns, or AIDS.

If you don't die you could be burdened with a tremendous amount of medical expenses. The US Dept. of Health and Human Services reported that in 1992 $5.1 billion dollars was spent on medical expenses related to alcohol accidents. After you recover from your wounds you will face license suspension, and possible jail time for drinking while under the influence.

Now ask yourself this simple question, "Is driving while intoxicated past the legal limit worth losing my life, or facing jail time for?" There is no doubt in my mind that everyone said no to this question. So the next time you or someone you know is about to drive while intoxicated stop and ask the question "Is it worth it to take this chance?"

Ricardo Reddick, RRR7109