Drunk Driving among Teenagers - Essay Example

Name: Tutor: Course: Date: Why Drunkenness in Teenage Driving Should be Stopped Contextual Relevance of the Research Proposal Drunk driving among teenagers has been an act that has resulted into significant losses of lives, transport mechanisms such as cars and property that have been damaged due to car accidents. Consequently, it has been necessary to ensure teenage drunk driving is stopped. The fact that a person may possess a valid driving license should not be used as a reason why drunk driving should be allowed. This is because, irrespective of the level of competence of a person, drinking results into the unconscious feeling and teenagers are likely to cause damage to cars and cause losses to car owners as well as endanger their lives. By controlling drunk driving, it will be possible to ensure damages do not occur to cars and incidents of causing traffic congestions do not arise. Studies conducted on drunk driving among teenagers reveal that alcohol is a depressant drug which when consumed results into a slowdown of the central nervous system. The consumption of alcohol then goes to cerebrum part of the central nervous system and affects the ability of a person to process sensible decision. The situation is worsened when a person is a teenager because their CNS is highly affected when they consume alcohol. Consequently, it is recommended that teenager drunk driving should be stopped as a measure of ensuring possible inability to make sensible decision is prevented among the youth. Studies have shown that drunk driving results into an average death of at least one person every hour. In more than 45% of the cases, drunk-driving is involved. The percentage of teenagers involved in drunk driving has also increased in the recent past due to modernization and association of the act with fun. Generally, motor vehicle crashes result into over 35% of people between the ages of 16 and 20 years. More that 65% of these cases are caused by drunk-driving. By implementing laws aimed at preventing teenage drunk-driving, it will be possible to reduce death rates by a significant margin, thus saving the lives of teenagers. It has also been reported that at least 20% of high school students are involved in drunk driving. There has been a reduction in these numbers due to a number of measures that have been put in place to prevent drunk driving among the youths. There are a number of social values of controlling teenage drunk driving. For instance, drivers below the age of 21 and 15 times likely to experience a fatal car accident when the Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) is below 0.08% compared with the case where there is no alcohol in his or her blood. Implementation of policies that prohibit drunk driving among the youth will be a contributing factor to the reduction in excessive consumption of alcohol before driving. There are cases where the safeties of most passengers are under the control of drivers. If teenage drunk driving is prevented, there will be a high safety of vehicle occupants in the case where the teenage is the one responsible for transporting people from one location to another. Practitioner Examplars 1. Adevee Beta. Bucharest Traffic Police Anti-Drink Driving Message: Absolute Insanity, Absolute Tragey, Absolute Stupidity. September, 2004. Filed Under Print and Public Interest. Available at : http://www.adeevee.com/2004/09/bucharest-traffic-police-anti-drink-driving-message-absolut-insanity-absolute-tragedy-absolute-stupidity-print/ Bucharest Traffic Police have been involved in various campaigns aimed at preventing drunk-driving and ensuring the public is aware of the implications of driving while under the influence of alcohol. In an attempt to reduce cases, of drunk-driving, the police have put up measures such as the use of ads which prevent people from lack of awareness about the consequences of drunk-driving. These ads have been placed in various locations such as restaurants and on the roadsides for the same purpose. Most of the ads illustrate cases of accidents that had taken place and the police try to blame the victims for various reasons such as stupidity resulting from increased use of alcohol inability to assess their decisions effectively. The first ad presents a case where an A3 ad has been placed in a police station. The ad was placed in strategic locations such as toilets, bars and restaurants the cops have also created a section of the restaurant where they display anti-drunk driving messages. In the first ad, a car has turned over and is completely crashed due to accident that has occurred at night. The main message that Bucharest traffic Police is trying to convey is that dunk driving is most risky at night because there is the difficulty to make the right judgment such as that regarding an oncoming vehicle. Bucharest Traffic Police describe this act as ‘Absolute Insanity’ because a person knows the danger of drunk driving but still makes the decision to drive while being drunk. Another ad posted in the same police station was that of a car that had veered off the road and hit a tree. This is also a reposted case by the Bucharest traffic Police where the person involved was driving while being drunk. In order to emphasize the importance of avoiding drunk driving, Bucharest traffic Police described the situation as ‘Absolute Tragegy’. The objective was to inform the public about the tragedy that can affect them if they are involved in drunk driving. For instance, they can damage their cars and incur heavy losses, they also put their lives in danger because there is a possibility that they can be severely injured or even killed. The display of the ads was motivated by the increase in number of teenage drunk drivers in Bucharest in 2004. Thus, the police tried to bring the public such as parents to the attention of the need to prevent teenage drunk driving. The third ad that was also A3 in size was placed in the toilet of the police station for the purpose of informing the public about the implications of drunk driving. In the ad, there are two cars that have collided and the crumple zones of the two cars are completely damaged. Bucharest Traffic Police have placed a description of ‘Absolute Stupidity’ as a description for the act. This is because, the decision of drunk driving is known by the residents of Bucharest to be a factor that results into accidents but most people continue to engage in the act. Such a decision is similar to a stupid act because it is similar to causing an accident despite the ability to take the necessary precautions. 2. Nonamefundus blogs: One Drink Can Change Your Entire Outlook. Published on December 7th, 2008. Available at: http://nonamedufus.blogspot.com.au/2008/12/one-drink-can-change-your-entire.html This is an ad that presented the concern that mother had over the involvement of their Children in drunk driving. The purpose of the ad is to show the roles of Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) in contributing to the prevention of driving while under the influence of alcohol among teenagers. This organization has been effective in promoting the role of mothers in prevention of drunk driving among their children. This is because only mothers understand the manner in which their children conduct themselves thus having the ability to provide advice to them whenever they are involved in drunk driving. The formation of the organization was motivated by the observation that drunk driving is a major contributing factor to accidents in the United States specifically among the youths aged between 10 and 20 years. The ad illustrates a case where particular slogans are used to encourage the culture of using drink s while driving. An example of such a slogan is ‘Buy me another beer, you are still ugly’. This is a slogan that has been used to encourage intoxication to the fullest among those involved in drinking. It has been the concern among most parents that their children have developed the culture of high intoxication without being concerned that they can cause accidents while driving. Some mothers have expressed their concern that this slogan has been a contributing factor to such acts among teenagers. According to the blog, this ad promotes drinking to an extent that a person’s vision is impaired. In the blog, the concern of mothers that ‘One drink can change your entire outlook’ is illustrated. The purpose of the campaign is to inform teenagers that they can be greatly affected if they are involved in excessive drinking. A picture is presented with a road that is winding but the view of the picture can be misleading that it is straight for a person who is involved in drunk-driving. Another message presented in the ad is that driving while being drunk can be a contributing factor to a slowed reaction during the need to make a quick reaction such as when controlling a car. The dark sections of the ad shows that a significant number of teenagers’ fatalities result from drunk driving that occur each year. The ad also shows a road that goes towards the dark clouds that illustrates that when driving while being drunk; it is a sign of being on the road to death. While the main audience being addressed by the ad is teenagers, the message is aimed at addressing the culture of drunk-driving among all populations of the United States. This is because, the effort by the police to put measures aimed at controlling drunk driving have not been effective and people have continued to drive while being drunk despite the penalties they have been subjected to. According from the police reports in the United States, the campaigns by mothers on ‘One drink Can Change Your Outlook’ has contributed to the effectiveness of accident prevention efforts due to drunk driving by a significant margin. 3. Road Cross realities Ad. Available at: http://adsoftheworld.com/media/print/road_cross_realities This is an ad that was created and placed on adoftheworld.com website. It has been regarded to be one of the most interesting ads. The ad depicts a road that has been designed for the purpose of creating misconceptions about road usage after an accident has occurred. For instance, it illustrates that the center line for the road has been constructed onto the wall with a stop sign drawn on the wall. It illustrates that the reality about alcohol consumption is that it contributes to a blurred vision and a person is likely to assume that the house is located on the road. Thus, there is a chance that the person can cause an accident by driving straight into the building rather than negotiating the bend and driving along the road. The impact of such an action can be increased consumption of alcohol or the possibility of driving under the influence of alcohol. It also implies that a person during in such a case can assume that one needs only to stop when the wall is reached but it can be too late to prevent the accident from occurring. The creation of the ad was motivated by the observation that a number of accidents in the United States in particular and worldwide in general are cause by drunk driving. This is a case where the person involved is unable to make quick decision when driving while drunk. The inability to make the right decision is worsened by the possibility that roads may be composed of bends where drivers have to make decisions such as making the right turn as soon as they reach them. Due to intoxication, the person involved can only make a decision when he or she has deviated from the road and hit an object on the side of the road such as a house. In the process, a number of consequences can result such as injury to the person and damages to the car under use, resulting in significant losses to its users. The ad was motivated by the fact that road cross realities have affected the manner in which accidents occur in the United States. This is because, in most cases, people in the United States who have been involved in car crashes due to drunk driving have been involved in accidents around bends. A significant percentage of those involved in such accidents have been younger people aged between 10 years and 20 years. Due to this observation, the creator of the ad aimed at informing those involved in drunk driving about the danger that they pose on them. In addition, the ad shows that the scene is at night when vision is most likely to be blurred by darkness. The use of an ad that was taken at night also emphasizes that most drunk driving accidents in the United States have occurred at night. It presents a message that those who are driving at night should try and avoid being drunk. 4. You Can Drink and Drive. Or Drink and. Published on Communicazione Sociale on 25th October, 2015. Available at: https://comunicandoilsociale.wordpress.com/2010/10/25/you-can-drink-and-drive-or-drink-and/ This is an ad constructed by Agenzia: Talent Brasile and directed by Alex Goncalves for the purpose of creating awareness about the role of drunk driving on road accidents and why teenage drunk driving should be prevented. The ad illustrates a can of binge with a drawing of a car on its side. The can has been crashed, resulting into the crashing of the drawing of the car on it. The message being conveyed in this case is that teenagers have been involved in high rates of binge consumption and it has greatly affected their ability to drive safely. This has resulted into increased accidents a case that has also resulted into high rates of destructions of cars and other forms of vehicles. These artists were contracted by Guigo Oliuver and Phillpe Degen who have been involved in creating awareness about the need to avoid drunk driving among the youths. They have observed that the measures taken by the police to prevent drunk driving have not been successful because they are authoritative in the manner in which they are implemented. They are also subject to lack of cooperation between the public and the police. Consequently, most people have assumed that the measures taken by the police to prevent drunk driving are aimed at punishing them rather than preventing accidents. The perception has mainly been expressed by youths in their teenage. Consequently, the authors tried to develop an ad which enables the public understand the implications of drunk driving by simply looking at the ad and making their own interpretations. The ad is also a motivation to the youth that the act of drinking and driving should not be combined. It emphasizes the message that when one uses alcohol, one should not drive. It emphasizes the importance of remaining sober while undertaking various activities such as driving a car. The act of using a crashed can is also an illustration that only a single bottle of alcohol is enough to cause intoxication that can make an individual less capable to drive a car properly. The bottle is specifically a binge bottle which is mainly used by teens. Thus the ad emphasizes that teens have been involved in drunk driving after consumption of binges resulting into increased cases of accidents. Another component of the ad that has been used to draw attention is that the photograph was taken at night when the only sources of light are street lights that are not effective in creating the right vision of the road. The ad conveys the message that drunk driving at night under the influence of alcohol has been associated with the inability of a person to make the right decision such as whether to overtake another car safely. The impact has been a collision with another car or the possibility of the car veering off the road to hit stationary objects beside the roads. Examples of Preliminary Theoretical Investigations 1. WHO. “Why is a Drinking and Driving Programme Necessary?” Drinking and Driving: a road safety manual 11(6), 3-6. Available at: http://www.who.int/roadsafety/projects/manuals/alcohol/1-Why.pdf World Health Organization (WHO) has been involved in various initiatives aimed at preventing drunk driving in the world. One of these initiatives has been creation of awareness regarding the impacts of drunk driving among teenagers and the reason why the practice should be regulated. This has been achieved by publishing articles aimed that have been distributed to the public for use in understanding the reasons why drunk driving should be avoided. This article was published for the purpose of illustrating the importance of implementing drinking and driving programmes. The importance of this article is that it acts as a safe driving manual for teenage drivers because it explains the impacts of drunk driving such as damage to cars, loss of life or possibility of sustaining serious injuries and endangering the lives of vehicle occupants. One of the areas that the article focuses on is the impact that alcohol has on driving performance by explaining the relationship between consumption of alcohol and road accidents. It also emphasizes that drunk driving among the youth affects their ability to make judgments and recommends various rehabilitation methods that can be used to prevent drunk driving among the youth. For instance, it suggests various alternatives that can be applied as a method of understanding whether a person is drunk and cannot drive safely. This include: measurement of grams of alcohol consumed per 100 milliliters of blood (g/100 ml), milligrams of alcohol consumed per 100 milliliters of blood (mg/100 ml) and milligrams of alcohol consumed per deciliter of blood (mg/dl). It also illustrates the variations that exist in the measurement of blood alcohol content among drivers that ranges from 0.02g/100 ml of blood to 0.10 g/100 ml of blood. However, it illustrates that the actual value BAC is determined by the respective governments. The article also explains that those who are most likely to participate in drunk driving are male individuals, those between the ages of 18 and 24 years, those who hail from low socioeconomic groups, single or divorced individuals and those who take part in blue collar professions. The article also explains that those who have low qualifications in driving such as those who do not posses driving license do not have the competence to know whether drunk driving is prohibited. Furthermore, the article explains that drunk driving has been cause due to collision with drivers who are not drunk but the perpetrators of the collisions have in most cases been youths. The last section of the article illustrates methods that can be used to prevent drunk driving among the youths. For instance, it suggests the focus of political institutions in the prevention of drunk driving, creation of legislations aimed at defining whether a person can be described as drunk-driving and subjecting the offenders to penalties in case of involvement in the act. It also suggests strong public campaigns by law enforcers to prevent teenage drunk driving and educating them to change their attitudes towards driving while being drunk. Furthermore, the article suggests that there should be swift penalties for youths involved in perennial breakage of traffic rules pertaining to drunk driving. 2. Australian Government (2008). “Information Your Teenagers Need to Know About Drink Driving”. 2008:1(2), 4-9. Available at: https://infrastructure.gov.au/roads/safety/publications/2005/pdf/Teenagers_drink_driving.pdf Australian government has been involved in the publication of articles aimed at reducing road accidents and the manner in which drivers need to conduct themselves so that such accidents are prevented. An example of area of focus has been creating awareness to parents on the need to ensure their children do not drive while being drunk. This article was published by the government of Australia for the purpose of informing parents about the need to prevent their children from drunk-driving. The main areas that it focuses on include: the advice that parents need to provide to teenagers in order to prevent them from driving while being drunk. For instance, it suggests that parents should inform their children to always avoid taking alcohol within a short time prior to driving. The fact that parents know their teenagers more than anyone else gives them the opportunity to monitor their actions. This is achievable by going to the locations where alcohol is sold and establishing whether the teenager is involved in drinking. If the teenager is involved in drinking and also wants to drive, the article provides particular guidelines that can be followed by parents in creating standards for their children to be responsible drivers. These include: advising the teenager about the need to take a taxi home whenever it is difficult to drive their cars when they have taken alcohol, discussing the actions that can be taken by teenagers in case they find themselves in a situation where they have been drinking and have to drive others to their destinations. The article also suggests the importance of developing good habits that prevents engagement in drinking such as drinking of coffee, exercising and taking shower that contributes to the removal of alcohol from the body. It also recommends that parents should inform their children to take adequate rest before driving. This is because, rests contributes to the attainment of consciousness after consumption of alcohol. Since children are more likely to understand the advice from their parents more than anyone else, the article recommends that parents should inform their children that alcohol has an effect of reducing the ability to multitask such as during driving and the potential to slow the reaction of time in case something unexpected occurs. This increases the chances of road accidents. Lastly, the article illustrates the observation of group pressure as a factor that has inspired the involvement of youths in drunk-driving. When youths need to be part of a group, they tend to engage in similar activities. For instance, if peers are involved in drunk-driving, the teenager can develop the same characteristic as a method of showing that he or she is a member of the group. Consequently, it advises parents to be involved in active roles of education youths to avoid influence from peers. In order to convince teenagers to avoid drunk-driving, the article suggests that parents should play a role in convincing them to know that they are likely to lose respect, cause damage to family cars and contribute to costs to their families and also puts the lives of other people in the use of cars in danger. 3. Atkin, Charles K. "Mass communication effects on drinking and driving."Surgeon General’s Workshop on Drunk Driving. 1988. Available at: https://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/ps/access/NNBCXX.pdf Charles Atkins has published a number of methods in which mass communication can be applied to achieve public benefits. The main focus of most of his articles is the use of media to enhance communication of particular challenges facing the community. This is based on his competence as a PhD holder in public communication. In this article, he explains various methods in which the media can be used as a tool of communication in the effort to reduce teenage drunk-driving. He combines his experience in public communication with various solutions to drunk driving among teenagers by illustrating the role that stakeholders can use to promote its use. According to the article, it is possible to influence the public by exposing them media communications thus creating awareness on the reasons why teenage drunk-driving should be prevented. According to the article, one of the contributing factors to increased drunk driving among teenagers is that the marketers of such drinks have emphasized the need to use them without proper precautions on why they need to avoid drunk-driving. The article explains that this practice has been motivated by the need to promote the sales of such drinks. The article also explains it also presents the support for his claims by illustrating the contributions that have been made by other authors to support them. In the context of drunk driving, the article claims that the media has not been used to create a good drinking culture among people such as teenagers. For instance, ads that promote the drinks have used people drinking in bars thus promoting the tendency to drink alcohol in other locations other than their homes. The viewing of TV programs that promote drunk driving and no precautions to the act has also been attributed to be a factor that enhances the practice among the youth. It states that most viewers are likely to make drinking a routine but the media can also be used to inform them about the need to avoid drunk driving. The article presents a study that was conducted among 37 cases in 700 hours where prime time programming was involved. During the study, the effects of TV programs on creating intervention mechanisms against drunk driving resulted into the observation that more than 60% of those involved in the intervention agreed that they would implement physical intervention when associated with drunken friends. Some of the motivating factors have been the use of ads that shows characters drinking heavily at parties and later in a different location. Another suggestion made in the article is that the media such as TV and radio can be used to display cases of arrests and conviction of youths involved in drunk-driving as well as penalization. This can enable the public accessibility to actions taken by the government to control drunk driving thus promoting the implementation of precautionary measures during driving by teenagers. Finally, the article illustrates the strategy that need to be taken to implement a policy that prohibits drunk driving. For instance, it suggests that the target audience should be youths and the intervention strategies should include educating them on the problems they can cause to themselves such as personal injuries and their family cars if they take part in drunk driving. 4. Sleet, David A., Alexander C. Wagenaar, and Patricia F. Waller. "Introduction: drinking, driving, and health promotion." Health Education & Behavior 16.3 (1989): 329-333.Available at: https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/66845/10.1177_109019818901600302.pdf?sequence=2 David Sleet works as a Professor of the Department of Health Science in San Diego University, Alexander Wagenaar works as the head of Injury Analysis at the University of Michigan while Patricia Waller was a Director of Injury Prevention Research Center at the same university. The authors combined their studies and experiences in impacts of drunk driving to illustrate the reasons why teenage drunk driving should be controlled. The findings of their combined studies shows that when teenage drunk driving is controlled, it is possible to reduce traffic fatalities by at least 47%. One reason provided by the article why teenage drunk driving should be controlled is that if a driver is involved in consumption of alcohol, there is the possibility that blood alcohol concentration can exceed 0.05 g/dL. They also explain that divers whose BAC is above this level are twice much likely to cause road accidents compared with those whose BAC is below this value. The article also explains various factors used to determine BAC such as a person’s weight, amount of adipose tissue and metabolism level in the digestive tract. They suggest that these factors must be taken into consideration when determining a person’s BAC. The article also presents a report from the Fatal Accident Reporting System (FARS by illustrating that only 10% of drivers below the age of 16 years who have been injured in car crashes have BAC of 0.10 g/dL or a higher value, while 29% of those between the age of 16-19 years have been affected by road accidents. The article also provides an observation that has been made on those who have been drinking during car crashes. For instance, it illustrates that those who have been drinking are more likely to sustain serious injuries compared with those who do not. Various strategies are suggested as methods that governments can apply to reduce teenage drunk driving. For example, the article suggests increased police surveillance of traffic and prosecution of those implicated in drunk driving. It recommends that there should be more focus on the youth aged between 10 and 20 years. Due to the impact of socio-economic environment, organizational factors and environmental factors on teenage drunk-driving, it is suggested that education alone cannot be used to bring about change in drinking while intoxicated. The article recommends that the intervention strategy should be multidisciplinary so that various approaches for prevention of the practice are able to complement each other. The article also recommends that participation of multidisciplinary professionals to create a collective effort aimed at reducing teenage drunk driving in the society. These include organizations, schools, legislators, employers and taverns. The article also recommended that rehabilitation program can be effective in enabling the youths who are involved in drunk driving to stop the practice. This is because, rehabilitation process is the only sure method that will enable the accomplishment of a change in character and the development if new characters with respect to drunk driving among teenagers. Conclusion This paper provides an illustration of the reasons why drunk driving should be prevented among teenagers. The main observation made is that teenagers are less likely to make the right decision and the situation is worsened when they drink alcohol. For instance, their ability to make an assessment of the conditions of the road is impaired and they tend to cause car collisions more easily compared with the case where they drive when they are sober. Another observation from this study is that teenagers experience the impacts of peer pressure and they may be made to assume that driving while drunk is pleasurable. Thus, the paper recommends that they should be taught to develop good habits when driving such as involving parents in monitoring their actions. There are also a number of agencies that have been involved in campaigning against teenage drunk driving. An example of such an organization is MADD that has been effective in enabling the efforts of preventing drunk driving among teenagers in the United States. Works Cited Atkin, Charles K. "Mass communication effects on drinking and driving."Surgeon General’s Workshop on Drunk Driving. 1988. Sleet, David A., Alexander C. Wagenaar, and Patricia F. Waller. "Introduction: drinking, driving, and health promotion." Health Education & Behavior 16.3 (1989): 329-333. Read More