WHY SHOULD WE STOP DRINK DRIVING?
These are the words Rick Ellis said when he lost his 6-year-old daughter four
years ago to a drunk driving accident and the driver was the child’s
mother. “My little girl was killed from a mother who wanted to get high;
drink, party and have fun. It didn’t work out too well. I’m telling you
something that is the end result of your partying on Friday nights, Saturday
nights, whenever. Want to get drunk, play around, and get stupid? This is
what happens…
Good morning everyone my name is Tanzeemah Atik and today my speech
is about drink driving.
Drinking and driving is a very serious and dangerous problem. Many people
every year are killed or injured because of drunk drivers, and most of the
people that are killed are innocent bystanders. When a person’s blood
alcohol content is over the legal limit, he becomes much more impaired and
are at a higher risk at hurting themselves or others. Alcohol affects your
body’s responses. It slows down your brain, which means you are more
likely to have an accident. Drinking alcohol can: affect our judgement and
reasoning, impair our vision and hearing, make us lose concentration and
feel drowsy.
Drinking and driving is bad because your mind is in confusion and by being
so you put your life at risk along with other people that are on the road.
Many people have died because of drinking and driving, which could have
been avoided. Drinking, even one drink, can impair your driving. You could
lose your license, have to pay fines, and have higher car insurance for years
in addition to jail time. You could injure or kill yourself, a friend, an innocent
driver or someone else’s family member. Drinking and driving is never,
ever a good idea.
After researching, NZ Statistics Department numbers show that between
1990 and 2008, the number of people convicted for drink driving has varied
between 20,000 and 30,000 a year. In 2008 (the most recent year for which
data was available), convictions hit an all time high of 31,223 and those aged
between 17 and 24 are responsible for one third of all convictions.
The government is trying its best through education and punishment such
as fines and jail to curb the binge drinking culture of New Zealanders. But if
we as citizens of this great nation don’t do anything, then there will be
many more innocent lives lost, and many people made disabled or with life
long suffering.
Today I am leaving you with few questions to ponder:
Are you going to grow up as a drunk driver?
How will you stop other people from drink driving?
What will you do if you see a drunk driver on the road?
Can we make a difference? YES, we can make a difference if we all try and
play our part in educating and helping our loved ones on the harm done by
simply making a bad choice of drink driving.
Thank you.
Tanzeemah Atik