Drunk driving is a very real problem all throughout the United States. Unfortunately, it is actually far more prevalent than many people actually realize. Over the course of just one single day, as many as 300,000 people will get behind the wheel while intoxicated and under the influence of alcohol. Unfortunately, only about 4,000 of those people will be apprehended in that same span of time.
And the prevalence of drunk driving is something that leads to a great deal of tragedy. In fact, up to 28 people lose their lives, on average, on a daily basis, all thanks to drunk driving. In addition to this, a new person will actually become injured in a drunk driving related incident for every two minute span of time that passes us by. Unfortunately, these injuries can range from the relatively minor to the much more severe and life changing. Spinal cord injuries can even occur, leading to lifelong paralysis and other immense complications.
But what exactly qualifies as drunk driving? It is important to fully understand this before beginning a discussion on how to prevent it. In the vast majority of states in this country, having a blood alcohol level (BAC) that exceeds 0.08 is considered to be driving while under the influence. However, it is also true that different people have drastically different tolerances for alcohol and some people can have a BAC of less than 0.08 and not necessarily be safe to drive. However, anyone who is apprehended with a BAC at this level of higher will be charged with a DUI. In a number of states, however, impaired driving even with a BAC that is lower than 0.08 will still be charged as a DUI and an arrest will be made.
Hopefully, the repercussions of this DUI alone will help to keep many a drunk driver off of the roads. In many cases, however, more serious measures will likely need to be taken. For some people, the use of ignition interlock installation will be legally mandated – and this ignition interlock installation can help to save lives, no doubt about it. After all, the data shows that many drunk drivers are repeat offenders, with drunk drivers involved in fatal crashes up to six times more likely to have already had a DUI conviction or a conviction of a similar nature, at least in comparison to drivers with no alcohol in their systems who had also become involved in various accidents.
Ignition interlock installation can help to prevent these repeated instances of drunk driving – and the fatalities and other such tragedies that can all too often come alongside them. In many cases, ignition interlock installation can even save lives, providing a car breathalyzer and preventing the driver in question from getting behind the wheel while under the influence of even a small amount of alcohol. As anyone who has had ignition interlock installation take place will know, an interlock device will not allow a car to start not just if more than the legal limit of alcohol is detected in the driver’s system, but if really any alcohol at all is present.
The limit for typical ignition interlock devices are much lower, in fact. Typically, a car won’t start after ignition interlock installation if a BAC of any higher than 0.02 is detected, though this might range slightly from system to system and from state to state. Such a car breathalyzer device is well worth the car breathalyzer cost – and has been proven to effective at reducing the overall amount of drunk drivers on the road, as many drunk drivers are repeat offenders (driving, on average, a total of 80 times while intoxicated before ever getting caught), the ignition interlock installation system has been considered for all cars all throughout the country.
All things considered, drunk driving is something that we should all be taking seriously. Unfortunately, it is something that has become more and more commonplace as time has passed on. Hopefully we will find ways to combat it in the years that are to come, such as through ignition interlock installation and the installation of car breathalyzers.
