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Drinking and Driving Fatalities
Anyone can tell you that drinking and driving do not mix, and that alcohol contributes to higher accident rates for drivers.
But exactly how destructive is this factor?
In just five months, according to the head of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) there were 5,700 traffic fatalities related to alcohol use, the same number of people that have been killed in US commercial jet airline accidents for the entire history of the NTSB’s keeping track of such accidents.
Taking a few drinks and then getting behind the wheel of a car is a recipe for disaster. Not only is the drinker’s reaction time made much slower and his ability to drive safely impaired, but so is his judgment. Thus, it makes it easy for him to think it is fine to drive when it really is not.
Some states have made laws and equipment that check the breath of a convicted DUI or DWI driver before his car will start. Others encourage designated drivers be selected before anyone goes into a bar to drink. But, these measures have as yet been ineffective in eliminating tens of thousands of alcohol-related traffic deaths which could otherwise be avoided.
In 2009, there were an estimated 30,797 total people who died in motor vehicle accidents, and while there were a lower percentage of alcohol-impaired driving fatalities, those still represented 32% of all driving fatalities. In other words, a third of all accidents which resulted in a death were attributable to a driver who had been drinking.
Somehow, we have to get a handle on the decision that a person makes to take a drink and then get behind the wheel. When one is an alcoholic, or even just enjoys drinking frequently, one may not be able to make such a wise decision. Alcohol abuse also increases around holiday times, and since so many people drink heavily at these times, the abuse can easily be overlooked.
A Narconon drug and alcohol rehabilitation center can help the alcohol turn his or her life around, and literally make the difference between life and death for anyone who is addicted.
When the person decides to kick his addiction, he should get a program that is effective and produces results for the majority of those who enroll. In fact, the Narconon drug and alcohol rehab centers, located on six different continents of the world, and all over the United States offer a program which produces drug-free lives in more than 70% of its graduates. These Narconon program completions have been followed up and found to remain sober and drug free at least two years after graduation.
There are Narconon centers in Taiwan, Russia, Italy, Australia, Mexico, South America and North America. Each offers truly lasting recovery through a holistic, drugless, comprehensive, long-term, inpatient rehab program.
One part of recovering from addiction is to reduce one’s cravings for the substance they had been addicted to. In the Narconon New Life Detoxification Program, one gets help with this aspect of their physical recovery. With moderate exercise, some daily time spent in a dry-heat sauna, and ample nutritional supplements, one is setting up the perfect regimen for the body to rid itself of the accumulated toxins that are stored in the fatty tissues of the body.
When one has gotten rid of these toxins, not only are cravings much less or often gone altogether, but the person also recovers a fresh viewpoint on the world, and feels brighter, more optimistic and ready to go on to the next stage of the Narconon Rehab program.
This next phase involves training in life skills to ensure that the person understands the reasons he went down the road to alcohol or drug abuse in the first place. There are five more stages during this part of the program, all of which contribute to the person fully recovering his ability to make good decisions and to choose his associates wisely. He will only graduate the full Narconon program when he has formulated a plan that will ensure he can remain drug-free after leaving, and live his life without the crutch of drugs or alcohol, even when life presents its inevitable challenges.
Narconon represents a solution for anyone who truly wants to turn their addiction around, and live a productive life without the need for drugs or alcohol.
Call to find out all the details of the Narconon alcohol abuse recovery program today.
Resources:
http://www.ntsb.gov/news/speeches/sumwalt/rls110823.html
Traffic Safety Facts 2009: A Compilation of Motor Vehicle Crash Data from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System and the General Estimates System, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)
http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/Pubs/811402.pdf
National Center for Statistics and Analysis U.S. Department of Transportation Washington, DC 20590
http://www.ntsb.gov/news/speeches/sumwalt/rls110823.html
Traffic Safety Facts 2009: A Compilation of Motor Vehicle Crash Data from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System and the General Estimates System, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
Drinking and Driving Still Leading Cause of Teen Deaths
Although early estimates by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) of the 2010 traffic fatalities are down by approximately three percent, the number of people who died in automobile crashes still totals over 32,700 people that year. The fatality rate in fact, is projected to decline to the lowest on record for 2010, to 1.13 fatalities for every million vehicle miles traveled. These statistics sound promising but if you are a parent of a teen or young adult driver, the picture isn’t quite as encouraging.
In 2008, the NHTSA found that car crashes are the leading cause of death for teens, and that one out of every three of those deaths is alcohol-related. More significantly, teen alcohol use and abuse kills about 6,000 people each year, more than the total caused by all illegal drugs combined.
However, the NHTSA found that a young driver having an accident after drinking isn’t the only thing his or her family should be concerned about. When a young driver drinks, it is often true that the accident is far more severe than an accident caused by a young, non-drinking driver. Which means a much greater chance of a fatality.
An examination of 2008 statistics tells the story:
That year, only two percent of the drivers under 21 years of age who were involved in property-damage-only crashes had been drinking.
Four percent of those involved in crashes resulting in injury had been drinking.
But a whopping twenty-two percent of those involved in fatal crashes had been drinking.
When alcohol affects your own family, it is often very personal and the result of not dealing with this issue can be devastating. The question becomes “How do I prevent my own child or his friends from driving when drinking? How do I prevent or stop him or her from drinking at all? What do I do to educate my child to protect him from drunk drivers?”
If you think your teen or young adult is involved in drinking, particularly binge drinking (defined as five or more drinks at one sitting), start off by talking to them. Make it clear that you are concerned about their safety and the safety of their friends and associates. Ensure that they know the impairment that can be caused by even a little drinking (buzzed drinking and driving still kills).
Cover this point too: They should never allow someone else who has been drinking to drive. Also make sure your child knows that it is safe to call for a ride home at any time of the day or night. This one point alone could save his or her life.
If you think he is already drinking excessively, he may need to go to an effective drug and alcohol Narconon program. Narconon has been successfully helping drug and alcohol addicts with its drug free methods for forty-five years in 50 countries around the world.
For more information about Narconon and its effective alcohol rehab program, call today.
Resources:
Traffic Fatalities in 2010 Drop to Lowest Level in Recorded History, A Press Release, from Ê NHTSA 05-11, Friday, April 1, 2011, DOT Estimates Three Percent Drop Beneath 2009 Record Low, http://www.nhtsa.gov/PR/NHTSA-05-11
(Hingson and Kenkel, 2003) Full cite: Hingson, Ralph and D. Kenkel. “Social and Health Consequences of Underage Drinking.” In press. As quoted in Institute of Medicine National Research Council of the National Academies. Bonnie, Richard J. and Mary Ellen O’Connell, eds. Reducing Underage Drinking: A Collective Responsibility. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press, 2003.
Prevention of Over-Consumption of Alcohol
Although you often hear alarming statistics about how much alcohol is consumed and the consequences of over-consumption, the issue really becomes much more direct and personal when it affects you, your family, friends or close associates. The societal implications and public health issues raised by alcohol excess was the topic of a few recent research reports, conducted by the National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). The broad implications also apply on a personal level.
It is fairly well known that drinking and driving is a significant factor in automobile injuries and deaths in the U.S. In fact, alcohol was involved in forty percent of traffic crash fatalities and seven percent of all crashes in 2003, which tallied more than 17,000 fatalities and over 275,000 car accidental injuries, according to the NHTSA study of 2004.
In 2008, the NHTSA study found that car crashes are the leading cause of death for teens, and that one out of three of those deaths are alcohol-related. Moreover, teen alcohol use kills about 6,000 people each year, more than all illegal drugs combined.
If you or your family members have been involved in one of these accidents, you understand quite well the desire to get drunken drivers off the road, and more to the point, prevent them from drinking and driving in the first place. Many organizations such as MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) and others have sprung up and are working very diligently to lobby against drinking and driving.
It is evident that alcohol and its repercussions have potentially devastating consequences for both the individual and society.
But, how does this situation change? Is it just by better laws or enforcement of the existing laws? The NHTSA study states that while laws exist that restrict sales to intoxicated patrons and at events like “happy hour”, they can reduce alcohol-related harm only if they are adequately enforced. Enforcement or rather, lack of enforcement of these laws becomes one key to handling the issue.
Many states have program that try to increase compliance and enforcement, and some of these could be used as models for other states to adopt.
Prevention of drinking to excess by adequate educational programs early in school is another key to reducing alcohol-related destruction. Effective education which gets at the youngest children, as early as elementary school, is needed to change this behavior pattern.
By junior high school it is already too late. Although recent trends show that younger teens are binge drinking less (reduced from 9% to 6.4% among 8th graders in a recent study), there are still 15% of 10th graders reportedly binge drinking, and 22% of high school seniors who report that they have drunk 5 or more drinks in a row in the last two weeks, according to the 2011 study.
When one has an alcoholic in their midst, or when one’s family has been involved in these tragic accidents, the issue becomes very personal. If you are faced with the personal wreckage that living with an alcoholic brings, or if you want to help someone to successfully stop abusing alcohol or other drugs, there are several effective programs you could choose.
Narconon is one program which has been helping to broadly educate young people and getting people off drugs and alcohol effectively and with great success for over forty-five years. In over 50 countries around the world, Narconon has safely and successfully used its drug-free methods to help tens of thousands of addicts and alcoholics to live sober and drug-free lives.
We do not have Narconon meetings, but for more information and to learn how the Narconon drug and alcohol rehab program works, please read this article: http://www.narconon-news.org/program/narconon-alcohol-rehab-program.html.
Resources:
DOT HS 809 878 Revised February 2005, Preventing Over-consumption of Alcohol Ð Sales to the Intoxicated and “Happy Hour” (Drink Special) Laws, National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration.
http://www.nhtsa.gov/people/injury/alcohol/pireweb/images/2240pierfinal.pdf
(NHTSA, 2009) Full cite: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. “Traffic Safety Facts 2008: Young Drivers”. DOT 811 169. Washington DC: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 2009. http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/Pubs/811169.PDF
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. (2004). Traffic Safety Facts 2003: Alcohol. DOT HS 809 761.
http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/Pubs/809897.PDF
Hingson, Ralph and D. Kenkel. “Social and Health Consequences of Underage Drinking.” In press. As quoted in Institute of Medicine National Research Council of the National Academies. Bonnie, Richard J. and Mary Ellen O’Connell, eds. Reducing Underage Drinking: A Collective Responsibility. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press, 2003.
http://drugabuse.gov/infofacts/HSYouthtrends.html
http://drugabuse.gov/newsroom/11/mtf11overview.html
Marijuana Users’ Risk of Automobile Crashes Nearly Three Times Higher than Non-Users
In a new review of accident studies and statistics, drivers using marijuana are at a much greater risk of being involved in automobile crashes and even of dying in one. The study’s author, Dr. Guohua Li of Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, found that this risk also extends to users of other drugs besides marijuana.
In fact, in a large U.S. survey in 2009, it was estimated that more than 10 million people had driven under the influence in the prior year. Also, it revealed that in tests of drivers who had died in a car crash, 28 percent had tested positive for drugs other than alcohol. More than eleven percent of drivers in general also tested positive for drugs other than alcohol.
Marijuana is the second most commonly found drug after alcohol. And, as might be expected, the risk is even higher if the driver had also been drinking alcohol.
Authors of this study published online Oct. 4 in Epidemiologic Reviews believe their findings are especially relevant in light of recent moves to legalize medical marijuana in many states. However, none of the studies in this group looked directly at the use or effect of medical marijuana, now legal in 16 states plus the District of Columbia.
Experts cite that marijuana may interfere with reaction times and coordination, among other effects. The immediate effects of taking marijuana include rapid heart beat, disorientation, lack of physical coordination, often followed by depression or sleepiness. Some heavy users suffer panic attacks or anxiety. Marijuana is a hallucinogen which means that it is a substance that distorts one’s perception of the world around him.
The authors of the new study said it is critical to determine the crash risk related to marijuana in different doses, strengths, and administration methods, such as smoking versus vaporization.
They did conclude that the more the drug that was smoked, both in terms of frequency and potency, the greater was the likelihood of a crash.
These studies looked at effects on drivers in different time frames: some assessed marijuana use as little as one hour before driving while others looked at use as long ago as one year. According to one study cited, driving skills are acutely affected for three to four hours after use.
Couple these findings with the fact that marijuana is the most commonly used illegal drug in the world, and that more than 14.4 million individuals reported that they had smoked marijuana at least once during the previous month, according to a 2007 survey in the U.S., and the future of automobile safety policy comes into question.
Despite some people’s opinions, marijuana is addictive and people often cannot stop using it when they want to, thus increasing their risk of accidents, causing harm to themselves and others.
Narconon has been successfully rehabilitating drug and alcohol addicts for the past 45 years, with its very effective, drug-free methods of withdrawal. Narconon has centers in 50 countries and offers residential rehabilitation as well as outpatient options in some places.
If you know someone who has a drug abuse problem call a Narconon drug rehab counselor today.
Resources:
- http://yourlife.usatoday.com/health/story/2011-10-14/Pot-smoking-may-more-than-double-crash-risk/50774786/1
- http://epirev.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2011/10/04/epirev.mxr017.abstract
- http://www.drugfreeworld.org/drugfacts/marijuana.html
