Drunk Driving Essay

Don’t you want to make sure your life is as safe as possible without the convicted reckless driving criminals on the road? People convicted of drunk driving should be imprisoned on the first offense to ensure this safety of others. These people are a danger to our society, and drunk drivers need to be stopped. Imprisoning the intoxicated driver on the first offense would lower the deaths and injuries of the innocent people who happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. Drunk Driving is called DWI or DUI, â€Å"Driving While Intoxicated† or â€Å"Driving under the Influence†. The crime of drunk driving is usually a misdemeanor, but depending on the number of prior drunk driving convictions someone may have, it can also be a felony. Drinking and then driving have resulted in thousands of road accidents, injuries and deaths. A mandatory jail sentence for convicted offenders would cause people to seriously consider the bottom line of drinking and driving. T aking a serious civil approach to the offense would cause friends and family to view drinking and driving as completely offensive. It would add a risk of job loss, public humiliation and jail time to the risks of injury, and death. It is well known that drinking affects an individual’s way of thinking and doing things. When drunk, it is almost impossible to conduct duties in a normal way compared to when one is not drunk. Evidence shows that a number of road accidents are caused by careless drivers who drive when drunk. Although the cause of the accident may not be the fault of the drunk driver, the situation worsens because the drunk driver does not manage to control the motion of the vehicle (Walters, 2009). To ensure that the society lives in an environment that is healthy towards accidents, drunk drivers should go to prison when found guilty (Rebik, 2010). People who drive intoxicated most likely have done it before and will do it again. Out of the 900,000 people arrested each year that are convicted of a DUI, one third of them were repeated offenders (Fell, 2004). An average of people who drink and drive have done it eighty times before their first arrest, and some even more (â€Å"Morbidity and Mortality†). Since one arrest occurs in every 772 drunk driving incidents, many think they a re just lucky because they haven’t gotten caught yet (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 2002). Even though drunk drivers might not get caught by the law, they’ll most likely suffer injury or death by making the bad decision of drinking  and driving because one in three people will be in a crash caused by a drunk driver in their lifetime (NTSA, 2001). If they were imprisoned on their first offense, there would be no recurring offenders around to make the same mistake over and over again. It would deter many from drunk driving and discourage many from committing this crime. Imprisoning them would also remove them from the streets so they are doing the same thing and hurting others. Drunk drivers are most likely to commit the crime again, so they deserve to be imprisoned on their first offense to ensure the protection and save lives of others, especially children’s. Most kids don’t have the choice to not ride with the driver because it is usually an adult or parent driving. That’s unfair to put the kid’s lives in danger. Many children are affe cted by people drinking and driving. Seventeen percent of traffic deaths with children involved an alcohol impaired driver and 61% of those children were riding with them (Macgregor & Collins, 2011). Nobody should have to go through the pain of losing a child, especially under the circumstances of a drunk driving accident. The convicted drunk drivers being put away would relieve parents so they wouldn’t have to worry as much about drunk drivers adding a risk to their kid’s lives. The death and injury rate would also decrease dramatically and save lives of many innocent children who have been put in that terrible situation. Drunk driving is a direct result of bad decisions and not an â€Å"accident.† It is completely preventable. If the punishment was harsher than just having a license suspension and treatment classes, more people would think more about what they are actually doing. Drunk drivers being imprisoned would have to live with the humiliation and disappointment for being in jail because of making a careless mistake. People would feel worse and think twice because driving drunk makes them a criminal. They would then realize there would be more at stake since drunk driving is a crime and is the most frequently committed offense in America (â€Å"The High Cost†, 2012). Drunk drivers being imprisoned on their first offense would reduce the amount of injury, death, and damage to others. If people were imprisoned on their first drunk driving offense, it would make people more hesitant about making that careless decision. Evidence suggests that most road accidents are caused by drunk drivers who lose control when driving. Drivers who cause accidents regret on the actions and plead that they will not repeat their actions. In the first place, drivers know that  driving while drunk is offense and may cause an accident. This is a clear indication that they willingly break the law already knowing the consequence they may get. (Richardson & Thompson, 2008). To ensure that the society lives in an environment that is healthy towards accidents, drunk drivers should go to prison when found guilty, (Rebik, 2010). It might look injustice to imprison a driver when caught in the first time, but the reality is that imprisonment helps drivers reform. This reduces the occurrence of accidents that kill innocent people. There should be no mercy when charging criminals simply because they commit their offense in an ignorance manner (Richardson & Thompson, 2008). Protecting law is an important thing that most people ignore but find themselves in a fixed when law is against them. Unless drivers are imprisoned for the offense they commit, cases of accidents caused by drunk drivers won’t reduce. It is clear that they will increase causing more deaths and destruction of properties (Walters, 2009). Driving when drunk is dangerous to human life as well as the environment at large. Drivers who may drive drunk, argue that they have the right to drink and or consume alcohol. Although each and every person has the freedom to do what he wants, it should also be considered that the actions should not violate rights of other people or be harmful to anyone and anything around you. No one is prohibited drinking provided he, or she has turned the age of 21. Law prohibits driving when drunk because it may cause an accident killing people who are innocent. To avoid situations like this, it is advisable to imprison drivers who drive under the influence. Some may argue that they have control of their drinking habits, but to some point alcohol affects the response of the human body. It affects the control ability that is important when driving thus drunk drivers may lose their control and cause accidents (Durkin et al., (2008). It is argued that humans are to error and that they are subjected to mistakes. If the argument is based on that, drivers argue that imprisonment should not be done when the offense is made on the first situation. They say that forgiveness should work and warning given to those who commit offense in their first situation. Supporters of drinking and driving argue that they know their drinking habits and have drinking limits. This is not a justification as to why drivers should drink and drive. It should be remembered th at when a driver starts driving, he should take care of the lives he carries by ways of  driving in a careful manner (Richardson & Thompson, 2008). All people have equal opportunity when it comes to life and drunk drivers should not ruin that for anyone. Drunk driving is completely preventable if you imprison first offenders to catch other people’s attention. Imprisonment is the best form of prevention and rehabilitation for any sort of act involving drinking and driving; it’d make people realize their mistakes. Imprisoning people on the first offense for drunk driving would ensure the safety of others and to save the lives of many people because in most cases, drunk drivers are predicted to drive drunk again. Citations Drunk Driving Statistics. (2008). Retrieved from, http://www.alcoholalert.com/drunk-driving-statistics.html, on October 30, 2012 Durkin, Keith F.; Wolfe, Scott E.; May, Ross W. (2008). Social Bond Theory and Drunk Driving in a Sample of College Students. College Student Journal, Vol. 41, No. 3.Lankford, Ronnie. â€Å"Eliminating Drunk Driving Creates Repressive Laws.† Opposing Viewpoints Research Center. (2007)Gale. Gateway Community College Lib. Retrieved from, http://findgalegroup.com/ovrc, on October 30, 2012 Rebik, D. (2010). Drunk Drivers Who Kill Could Face Longer Jail Sentences. Retrieved from, http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/kcpq-092810-duilaws,0,5507117.story, on October 30, 2012 Richardson, K., Thompson, K. M. (2008). Drinking and Driving. Journal of College Student Development Volume 49, Number 5, pp. 497-508 10. Doi:353/csd.0.0034 Traffic safety facts. In (2009). (p. 6). DC: US Department of Transpotation. Retrieved from, http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/pubs/811385 .pdf, on October 30, 2012 Walters, S. (2009). First drunken driving offense shouldn’t be crime, says Van Hollen. (p. 1). Wisconsin: Journal Sentinel Inc. Retrieved from, http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/37748539.html, on October 30, 2012