Oct 7, 2014 | By Tim Stoddart

7 Scary Statistics about Drinking and Driving

Alcoholism

I don’t hate alcohol.

Quite the opposite. I think sitting back and drinking with friends is a wonderful past time. Just not for me. For me sitting with family and friends over a few beers ends up with me waking up in my neighbors garden with tomatoes smushed in my face. Long story…

One thing that I do hate is drunk driving. I have lost two friends to drunk driving. I think it’s all and all a stupid thing to do. One of the dumbest things you could do period. I was digging around and I found some very alarming facts about drunk driving. Let it be a reminder…

1 – Car crashes are the number one killer of people in their teens. To put some more perspective on that fact 1/3 of all auto fatalities of kids in their teens are alcohol related. That isn’t included hit and runs and vehicular homicides.

2 – Eight teens die every day in DUI crashes. It sure makes me think twice before I watch my cousin drive away a few weeks after getting her permit. Inexperience and youthfulness leads to bad decision making. Oh to be young and invincible again…

3 – Males are almost twice as likely as females to drive under the influence of alcohol. So listen here tough guy. Driving wasted doesn’t make you cool or more of a man. It makes you an asshole. Be a real man and admit when you have had enough. Take a cab.

4 – Alcohol involvement in crashes peaks at night (9 p.m. to 6 a.m.) and is higher on weekends than on weekdays. Among crashes occurring at night, 50% of drivers killed had blood alcohol content (BAC) levels over the legal limit compared with 15% of drivers killed during other hours.

5 – In 2005, 7420 teens died or injured in DUI crashes. Teen fatalities make up one-fifth of all alcohol-related crashes, though licensed teens make up only about 6% of the overall licensed population.

6 – Alcohol is involved in about 40% of all fatal car crashes.

7 – Alcohol is the No. 1 choice of drug over all other drugs.

Here is what you can gather from those horrifying statistics.

Drinking and driving kills people. For whatever reason, doesn’t it always seems as if the drunk driver is the one who survives the crash? There is some speculation as to why this is.

The “ragdoll effect” is a term coined by paramedics. It refers to drunk drivers not flinching or clinching up during wrecks which in turn allows them to have a more relaxed posture and can help with high velocity impacts.

Another thought is that most drunk drivers usually end up hitting accidents head on and many safety features of cars are best designed to withstand head on impacts.

Again, let’s state the obvious. Drunk driving is 100% preventable. There is never a reason to get behind the wheel if you are drunk. Call a friend, call a taxi, pass out under a bush. Whatever you have to do – however inconvenient – is way better then killing an innocent kid and spending your life is jail.