Drunk Driving-Angie Martinez

RESEARCH

According to Timothy J Ryan, more than 32,000 people die every year in a car accident that involves an intoxicated driver. Out of those deaths, 3,000 of them occurred in California. These numbers make California the state with the most deaths out of all states. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stated that 28 people in the United States die everyday in a motor vehicle accident due to drunk driving. That is equivalent to one death every 53 minutes! In 2013, Los Angeles had the highest rank in Southern California, which is 630 deaths.

On average, 2 out of 3 people will be involved in a drunk driving crash in their lifetime. 1.1 million reported drivers have been arrested for driving under the influence. In California itself, during 2014, there were 1 hundred thousand deaths of children from ages 0-20, 4.6 hundred thousand deaths from individuals ages 21-34 and 2 hundred thousand deaths in individuals from age 35 and older.

Given the fact that driving under the influence of alcohol is illegal, it is one of the leading causes of death in our country. According to the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence Inc. (NCADD), an estimated 32% of fatal car crashes involve an intoxicated driver or pedestrian and car crashes are the leading cause of death for teens, and about a quarter of those crashes involve an underage drinking driver. According to Driving Laws, approximately 2,000 underage drinkers die each year behind the wheel.

REFERENCES

Timothy J Ryan and Associates. (2016) Retrieved from: https://tjryanlaw.com/california-car-accident-death-statistics/

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2016, September 19). Retrieved from:   http://www.cdc.gov/motorvehiclesafety/

National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence Inc. (2015, June 26). Retrieved from: https://www.ncadd.org/about-addiction/driving-while-impaired-alcohol-and-drugs

Driving Laws published by NOLO. (2016). Retrieved from: http://dui.drivinglaws.org/resources/dui-and-dwi/dui-basics/the-sobering-facts-underage-duis.htm#

PERSONAL

My action is to spread awareness about driving under the influence and to bring those death rates caused by car accidents (due to an intoxicated driver) down. I started off by simply asking individuals about their thoughts on driving under the influence (in this case, drunk). As I expected, every person I asked was against it. I shared a personal story with them, which I will elaborate on. After giving my thoughts and reasons why I stand against drunk driving, each individual began to open up more about their personal thoughts. I was shocked at the fact that every person I spoke to somehow had a way to relate to this social issue.

Last year, during the holiday season, my cousin and his family (wife and their one year old child) were driving home from the store at about 5 pm and got hit by a drunk driver. The accident resulted in my cousin breaking his whole right side of the body (arm, leg, collar bone, ribs, etc.), his wife got broken ribs and unfortunately their son had the worse consequences. The impact of the accident caused his spinal cord and brain to detach from one another. The drunk driver only had minor injuries. On the scene, all three and the other driver were unconscious, luckily a man passing by grabbed the baby and noticed that he was not breathing and gave him CPR. He stood by them until the paramedics got there. They were rushed to the hospital and the doctors said that their little one was not going to make it. They were crushed by this news from the doctors. My cousin had a few surgeries and got better with time, his wife got better with no surgeries needed, but up until this day, their son is still having procedures done, he's still not able to move freely, and his lungs have been fragile. 

I had never witnessed my family go though such a rough time. It broke my heart to hear the news. From that day on, I realized how quick things can happen. We are fortunate to have such a strong little member in our family.

On October 1st, my family participated in a walk called MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving). There is a Team for our little fighter and their goal is to prevent drunk driving. People share their stories and many of them have lost an innocent loved one due to getting hit by a drunk driver. This organization visits the CSULA campus once in a while to spread awareness about drunk driving. These visuals contain the actual scene of an accident, making it an eye opener for us students and staff.

Ride applications such as Lyft and Uber  are very popular these days and I am completely for them. I myself use them when I go out with friends and I know that I should not drive. I believe that these applications can help our community be safe and also keep people out of trouble.

MEMBERS IN MY COMMUNITY ALSO AFFECTED BY THIS ISSUE 

"Driving when you are drunk is not safe. People who drive like that can crash and hurt themselves and maybe even other people walking in the street or in other cars."

"I am against drunk driving because it is such a selfish and dangerous thing to do. Putting innocent people's lives in danger due to irresponsibility should never be okay. A life can be taken away in an instant by making such a poor choice."

"I have heard many stories about deaths caused by drunk driving and the thought of it just leaves me in awe. As much as this law is enforced, people continue to break it and end up killing a friend, a mother/father, sister/brother, wife/husband. It's just such a reckless thing to do."

"I am a mother and the thought of anything happening to my daughter due to drunk driving terrifies me. I think that awareness should be raised in any way possible."

"I admit, I have drove after a night out when I knew I wasn't supposed to and thankfully I made it home safe. Ever since, I have not drove while under the influence and I do not plan on it."