The Short-Term & Long-Term Consequences Of Drinking & Driving

Driving under the influence (DUI) refers to being under the influence of any substance (including alcohol) and then operating a motor vehicle. Often called “drunk driving” interchangeably, it refers to operating any vehicle (including bicycles, motorcycles, golf carts, etc.) while impaired. Imagine what impact your brutal and untimely death would have on all the people in this scenario.

The Big Picture: DUI & DWI

Luoma and Sivak (2014) examined the differences in road safety among the Netherlands, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The authors found that while the United States had the lowest average alcohol consumption per capita, it also reported the highest number of alcohol-related driving fatalities. These findings do not account for the differences in limits set by laws between countries and the underreporting of alcohol-related crashes, yet they highlight an important disparity in alcohol-related crash fatalities. Lower fatality rates in other high-income countries suggest that the United States needs to make significantly more progress in reducing motor vehicle crash deaths to catch up to its peer nations.

• Drinking can cause blurred vision and, in some cases, uncontrolled eye movements.
• The relationship between alcohol-related harm and social determinants may be bidirectional.
• Beer consumption has also been shown to be correlated with higher rates of traffic fatalities (Rickard et al., 2013).
• Typically, first-offender jail terms are one or two days in length and can be served on a weekend.
• The expansion of the alcohol beverage market by transnational producers is likely to result in increased and more widespread availability, sales, and consumption (Babor et al., 2018).
• Nonetheless, efforts to draw attention to “hardcore DWI offenders” (i.e. repeat offenders or those with excessively high BAC levels), as well as stricter sanctions for such persons, are common, particularly from the alcohol industry (Williams et al., 2007).

What age does drunk driving occur the most?

Not only is there wide variability in the alcohol content of drinks served in bars and restaurants, but there is also significant variability in the drinks served in people’s homes (Kerr et al., 2005). A study conducted by Kerr and Stockwell (2012) found that drinkers have difficulty identifying and pouring standard drinks, with a propensity to overpour. As a result, it can be difficult to determine how much alcohol one has consumed based on the number of “drinks” they have had. The United Kingdom has a standard drink size of 8 grams of pure alcohol; in Australia a standard drink is 10 grams, in the United States it is 14 grams, Sobriety and in Japan it is 19.75 grams (WHO, 2014).

What is Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD)?

In 2016, among all alcohol-impaired driving crash fatalities,12 6,479 deaths (62 percent) were drivers who had BAC levels of 0.08% or higher, 3,070 (29 percent) were motor vehicle occupants, and 948 (9 percent) were nonoccupants (NCSA, 2017b). See Figure 2-1 for more details on fatalities by role in alcohol-impaired driving crashes. Children are particularly vulnerable to alcohol-impaired driving crash fatalities. Most child passengers (61 percent) who were involved in an alcohol-impaired driving crash from 2001 to 2010 were unrestrained at the time of the collision (Quinlan et al., 2014). Data on pedestrian traffic fatalities in 2016 indicate that these are on the rise, and 15 percent of drivers involved in these crashes had a BAC of 0.08% or greater (Retting, 2017). In summary, alcohol-impaired driving fatalities are not limited to the drivers themselves; other vehicle occupants including children and nonoccupants such as cyclists and pedestrians are also victims of crashes caused by alcohol-impaired driving.

• Even more, if the driver is drug-impaired (i.e., has used another substance besides alcohol), has additional criminal activity on their record, has caused a severe or fatal crash, and/or is under the legal drinking age, the legal consequences can be much harsher—and harder to recover from.
• Availability of alcohol to younger, often underage, populations is also widespread (Forster et al., 1995).
• The Fatal Analysis Reporting System (FARS) defines an alcohol-impaired driving crash to be one that involves a driver with a BAC of 0.08 g/dL or higher.
• Alcohol consumption impairs judgment, reaction time, vision, coordination, and concentration – all crucial for safe driving.
• He has a nursing and business/technology degrees from The Johns Hopkins University.
• Penalties can include losing your driver’s license, paying significant fines, or facing jail time.

The Do’s and Don’ts if a loved one is charged with a DUI

All treatments were prepared away from the investigator and participant by the research nurse. On study days, participants were asked to refrain from food for 2 h prior to testing, products containing caffeine within 12 h of testing, and alcohol within 24 h of testing and were asked to consume the same breakfast on each testing day. Assessing the risks and benefits of alcohol consumption remains an active area of research that may lead to major changes in official guidelines or warning labels. Of course, no one needs to wait for new guidelines or warning labels to curb their drinking. Many are exploring ways to cut back, including the Dry January Challenge or alcohol-free drinks.

• Depending on the results of your evaluation, you may then be required to attend a court-approved alcohol treatment program.
• Drunk driving doesn’t just affect individuals and their families; it also impacts the broader community.
• The unique challenges and characteristics of the rural environment will be discussed as important considerations in the design and implementation of interventions throughout the report.
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• It’s essential to raise awareness about the dangers of driving under the influence of alcohol and to promote responsible drinking behaviors.
• Participants in the Montana study say leaving a car could “result in judgment or damage to one’s reputation” (9).

In addition to encouraging greater alcohol consumption among younger audiences, the alcohol industry’s marketing promotions and sponsorships may also target women and other high-risk and/or vulnerable populations (Babor et al., 2018). A crucial force in shaping the environments in which people make their decisions about drinking, which in turn affect their likelihood of drinking and driving, is the alcohol industry itself. Its practices and innovations in product development, pricing, promotion, effects of drinking and driving and making its products physically available essentially structure the context of drinking for Americans.

In another study that examined BRFSS data from 2003 and 2004, drinking drivers who drank most of their alcohol in licensed establishments consumed an average of 8.1 alcoholic beverages on one occasion, and about one-fourth of this group consumed 10 or more drinks (Naimi et al., 2009). Cumulatively, these findings suggest that the risk of driving subsequent to binge drinking is substantial on a per-binge-drinking episode basis across the population. Increasingly, health care policy makers and the public are understanding the link between social factors and health. These factors are dynamic and intersect in myriad ways that are important to understand in a local context. They can contribute to differences in the burden of crashes, fatalities, injuries, and chronic health conditions that result from alcohol abuse and impaired driving among populations based on education, race and ethnicity, socioeconomic status, geography, and so on.