Alcoholism and alcohol related deaths have been a major problem in american society since this country began. During the last century, however, advances in knowledge have allowed people to realize the total effect of alcohol abuse on every aspect of life. Legislators, driven by public opinion, find themselves having to decide how to protect the children of america from this harmful chemical, while maintaining the integrity of the constitution.

The theory behind the issue is if this abuse can be stopped while people are young, then they will be less likely to acquire the disease during adulthood. Raising the minimum purchase age for alcohol to 21 throughout the country has been a successful strategy for reducing alcohol use and preventing related problems вќ levy, miller, cox, 19, p. Department of justice, since 1975, minimum purchase age laws have prevented more than 17,0 traffic fatalities levy, et al, 19. To focus on the growing cost to society associated with underage drinking, congress appropriated $50 million over a two year period to the department of justice's office of juvenile justice and delinquency prevention to fund the enforcing the underage drinking laws program mckinney, k. According to the national highway traffic safety administration, 18,0 young lives have been saved by minimum drinking age laws nhtsa, 1998. Seven out of ten respondents believed that stiffer punishments for teenagers caught drinking would discourage them from obtaining alcohol.

Most favored a one year license suspension, while the rest supported a penalty of 20 hours of community service вќ alters, 2002, p. According to alters, adults providing alcohol to teens are responsible for problems associated with teen drinking. Eighty three percent supported penalties for adults who provide alcohol to underage drinker's driving a car to work or school means reaching there early. In addition to the above, driving has huge benefit for those who live out in rural areas and want to go into town. However, driving a car while the driver is influenced an alcohol can have series consequences.

Despite the benefits of driving is so big, there are disadvantages specially when driving under the influence of alcohol. There is a line between the enjoyment of alcohol and the trouble it places on society through over excess, addiction and drinking too much often leads to crime, violence and road traffic accidents. In this essay, i am going to discuss drinking and driving in the united kingdom specially, the law regarding this issue, the limit of alcohol allowed while driving as well the problem might cause to drive a car while drunk. In 1872, it became an offence to drive carriages, horses, cattle and steam engines with the influence of alcohol. In 1925 the law goes further by making an offence to drive any vehicle while drunk. In 1962, road traffic act has come into effect while in 1965 the uk government announced the preparation of new drinking and driving law.

1981 was when introduced breath testing while in 1983 this act came into practice. In the early 90's a new act regarding drink driving offence was introduced and 2004 driving when under the influence of alcohol or drugs increased the maximum penalty for causing death by driving when under the influence of alcohol or drugs to 14 years in 2004. Drinking while driving is more common problem facing road users these days but they are seen lower risk by drivers. Every single injury and death caused by driver who has an influence of alcohol is entirely avoidable. Although the proportion of crashes that are alcohol related has dropped dramatically in recent years, accourding to you are an experienced driver, you are relying on hundreds of small, coordinated reactions: checking mirrors and distance operating acceleration and braking compensating for differing light and weather conditions.

All of these activities are taking place while moving at a far higher speed than the human body was originally intended to travel. Most drivers who have had something to drink have low blood alcohol content or concentration bac and few are involved in fatal crashes. If you drive at twice the legal alcohol limit you are at least 30 times more likely to cause a road crash, than a driver who hasn't been drinking.

There is no foolproof way of drinking and staying under the limit or of knowing how much an individual person can drink and still drive safely. In the uk, two out of every five men 40% drink more than the recommended daily limit of four units at least once week can we really argued that protecting people through ignorance is no protection at all: and not knowing what the legal limit is could potentially do far more harm than good. Can be beneficial for a driver's friends and family to know just what the legal limits are, so that they can ensure he or she stays safe, and on the right side of the law.

The effects of driving while drunk are unpredictable and may result in fatal or serious road crashes. The alcohol limit for drivers in the united kingdom is 80mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood, 35mcg per 100ml of breath or 107mg per 100ml of urine. Generally, the police in the united kingdom does not stop the cars and ask the drivers to take breathalyzer test checking the amount of alcohol in your body apart from when the police believe that the drive is breaking the law regarding the traffic. If the police stop any person who is driving, then the police have the power to ask the driver to take breathalyzer test. If the driver refuses to take this test or after taking the test shows there is positive result then the driver will be taken arrested and taken to the police station. If the driver is over the legal limit they will be charged for drink drive offence. When taken the sample if the lower of the readings is below is 35 39 micrograms, the driver will be released without any charges.

However, if it is between 40 and 50 micrograms, then the driver will be given an option as to whether they want to provide blood or urine sample in the uk all drivers who have been convicted of drink driving will encounter significantly higher car insurance prices than what they were previously paying. Some insurance companies will not even insure drivers with a drink driving conviction. Generally drinking and driving is dangerous and having as little as one drink can alter your perception and increase the likelihood that you will be involved in a accident that could cause serious injury or death to you, your passengers or other innocent people on the road.

Alcohol consumption impairs abilities like alertness, judgment, comprehension, and quick thinking that are essential while driving. Due to the dangers related to drunk driving, it has been made illegal by the united kingdom goverment. Various penalties are associated with this offense, and means have been devised to control this danger. It is recommended that you do not drink and drive as this will not only seriously affect your judgment and abilities but also give you a false sense of confidence, reduce co ordination slow down reactions, affect judgment of speed.

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Driving while influenced with alcohol will also reduce your driving ability, even if you are below the legal limit. The driver who has had a drink should know that he may be unfit to drive in the evening after drinking at lunchtime, or in the morning after drinking the previous evening. The united kingdom law requires that you must not drive with a breath alcohol level higher than 35 microgrammes/100 milliliters of breath or a blood alcohol level of more than 80 milligrammes/100 milliliters of blood the best solution is not to drink at all when planning to drive because any amount of alcohol affects your ability to drive safely. If you are going to drink, arrange another means of transport such as using public transport. If you are a driver, the truth is that the safest amount of alcohol in your bloodstream is zero milligrams. If you and your friends regularly go out for a drink then you should consider going out by using other means of transportation such public transports.