Driving While Under The Influence Of Alcohol

HERE ARE SOME STATISTICS ABOUT INCIDENTS INVOLVING IMPARED DRIVING?

According to Mothers Against Drunk Driving, "MADD,"in the years from 2000 - 2005:
· In 2002, an estimated 17,419 people DIED in alcohol-related traffic crashes-an average of one every 30 minutes. These deaths constituted 41 percent of the 42, 815 total traffic fatalities ;
· About 1,058,990 were INJURED in alcohol-related crashes - an average of one person injured approximately every 30 seconds. About 30,000.00 people each year will suffer permanent work-related disabilities;
· Every weekday night from 10:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m., 1 in 13 drivers is drunk (with a blood alcohol content of .08 or more). Between 1:00 a.m. and 6:00 a.m. on weekend mornings, 1 in 7 drivers is drunk;
· Approximately 18 million Americans - 8.5 percent of the population - meet the diagnostic criteria for alcohol abuse or alcoholism ;
· About three in every ten Americans will be involved in an alcohol-related crash at some time in their lives;
· Alcohol-related crashes cost an estimated $45 billion yearly. An additional $70.5 billion is lost in quality of life due to these crashes;
· The rate of alcohol involvement in fatal crashes is three and one-third times as high at night than as during the day. For all crashes, the alcohol involvement rate is nearly five times as high at night;
· Thirty-two percent of drivers 21 - 24 years old involved in fatal crashes were intoxicated, followed by ages 25 - 34 (27 percent) and 35 - 44 (24 percent) ;
· In the past decade, four times as many Americans died in drunk driving crashes as were killed in the Vietnam War;
· Drunk driving is the nation's worst frequently committed violent crime.

What happen to me in high school was my friend was in an car accident and was killed. There was four people in the car total, 3 girls and the 16 year old boy. All of these kids were going to my high school. The 16 year old boy was driving. They had been drinking and I believe that no one in the car had a license to drive. It was at night. I don't really know what they had been doing or where they were going. The boy was driving on Pitney Lane in Junction City going toward Highway 36. They were racing to beat a car, which was headed East on Highway 36, to the stop sign. There was a vehicle coming the other way that they did not see. The guy driving the vehicle heading East was heading home to his wife which he had just talked to on the phone. Those were the very last words he every spoke to wife. His name was Reily. I hope that he told her that he loved her. The boy hit the car Reily was driving. Reily was killed at the seen and the three girls were thrown from the vehicle. I knew all of the girls in one way or another. One was my friend April and she was killed at the seen. Another one was Kim, I knew her in middle school. She was in my P.E. class. I know that she died as well but can't remember where. The last girl was Jennifer and she was in my study hall class that I was going to, at the time. She did not die at the seen. She was taken to the hospital. Every bone in her body was broken especially in her hand because she put up her hand like she was trying to brace herself from the impact. She was in the hospital for awhile before she died. Now about the driver he was not killed, but walked away with some minor injuries. So from this accident four people died that day that could have been avoided. Later I found out that the other car that they were trying to bet was my two neighbors that lived up the same driveway as we did. I talked to the neighbors and they told me that everyone was thrown from the vehicle. They looked like rag dolls coming out of the vehicle because no one was wearing their seat belt. I wanted to go to the funerals but some of them were at the same time. I went to April's Funeral and there was not very many people there. They even waited to see if anyone else was coming and nobody did. I think that it is sad that not very many people came, but some of the other funerals had lots of people attending. I think that it was in the newspaper and it was a big deal at the time because of all the deaths.