A major problem that we see today would have to be the amount of DUI’s issued each year.
Every year thousands of lives are taken by people who think they are sober enough to drive home. The
legal drinking age is set at twenty-one but I think it should be raised higher so that people will be more
responsible. In 2003 roughly 17,941 people died due to alcohol related crashes and thousands of arrests
for driving under the influence. People who drive drunk is an issue for everyone because they are
putting your life as well as others at risk and could hit and injure you or even kill you.
I think a good solution to the problem would be to increase the punishment received when you
get a DUI. In Arizona it is known to have the strictest DUI laws because with your first offense will you
get a minimum of one day in jail but in 2008 roughly 39,746 people were arrested.This is a major
problem because that is a high number and it is only one state. Also another way it could be solved is
rising the drinking age so that there are more responsible people out there drinking instead of college
students who don’t know their limits. People who don’t know their limits are a big risk to everyone
because they get behind the wheel and drive home assuming they aren’t as drunk as they are. When
this happens that is when all of the alcohol related crashes happen because people are over the legal
limit. The legal limit is set at 0.08% and if you are pulled over exceeding that it is considered over the
legal limit and you will be arrested. Once you are arrested depending on your states DUI laws you could
be facing up to days or months in jail. If they made the laws stricter on DUIs then people would think
twice about getting behind the wheel and they would have a designated driver for the night or take a
taxi home.
The people who have already been arrested for DUIs in the past know what it’s like paying all of
the court costs and fines just for their decision to drive drunk. When being charged with your first DUI
you will spend thousands of dollars in court fees and fines and may have to pay for an ignition interlock
device. This has been an effective way to slow down on DUIs because it requires you to blow into it
whenever it beeps or you try to start your car. Many different ways have been tried to decrease the
number of DUIs issued each year but none has had a major impact. Checkpoints have been set up so
that people are randomly checked to make sure they are not drinking and driving. Once they change the
drinking age it will benefit us more because the number of casualties will decrease and less money will
be spent on projects trying to decrease DUIs.
Driving under the influence isn’t a topic that is talked about a lot lately but it should be because
it plays a major role every day. Something that I personally can do to help prevent people from driving
under the influence is informing people about the danger s and consequences. Also, I can make sure
that none of my friends drive under the influence because a friend should never let another friend drive
drunk. If one of your friends is trying to drive drunk always make the right choice of taking their keys and
hiding them or driving them home yourself to ensure their safety. By making sure that my friends get
home safe I can at least prevent them from hurting themselves or others.