By: Joseph Akim Gordon
Driving while impaired by alcohol or illicit drugs e.g., marijuana, cocaine and others, pose a significant threat to public safety.
Substance use can impair perception, cognition, attention, balance, coordination, and other brain functions necessary for safe driving.
Being impaired by drugs or alcohol has been linked to reckless driving, car crashes, and fatal accidents.
Millions of people are arrested each year for driving under the influence or driving while intoxicated but continue to ignore traffic rules and regulations.
Reducing the number of people driving under the influence of alcohol is a good strategy to avoid unnecessary car accidents that cause deaths and disabilities to many.
Too much of anything for instance, if you eat too much meat or fish, can become poisonous to the body. The influence of alcohol and drugs, affect a person in a negative way.
Many people have become mad, impotent, and unable to play sex properly, others take to committing suicide.
The effects of alcohol and drugs can impair the ability to drive because being under influence slows coordination and judgment, hence making wrong decisions as when to take prompt actions. Under influence makes drivers aggressive and reckless.
Drinking and driving increases the risk of accidents, due to impaired motor skills, less concentration, slow reactions, decreased vision and poor judgement. For this reason, avoid being a passenger to such drunk drivers. Other vehicles and pedestrians should take caution as well since they are all at risk of such motor vehicles once fatal accident occurs.
The use of stimulants is a problem when driving; it interferes with the attention and impulse control and increase aggressiveness. It can have an adverse impact on driving behavior. Drivers must always be alert while on motion to avoid accidents.
Other negative effects of alcohol include high blood pressure, heart diseases, stroke, liver diseases, digestive problem, and cancer of the breast, mouth, throat, esophagus, voice box and liver. It also weakens the immune system, increasing the chances of getting sick, learning and memory problems and poor school performance.
Consequences of impaired or drunk drinking; It can cause accidents that lead to paralysis, disfigurement, brain damage and even death. Impaired driving is also a crime.
The drunk driving as a crime often results into significant fines, loss driving license and high insurance cost.
An accident happened last month in which a young drunken driver, on early hours of the morning drove at very high speed, crushing into three standing vehicles. One completely damaged beyond repair and the driver came out of his vehicle laughing and laid on the ground.
At the time police arrived the scene, they confirmed that the driver was drunk, and he was taken to custody. He is to repair the three vehicles, including one that got damaged beyond repair, but the owner of the vehicle needs a new one.
The drunk driver cried while in remand when he was told to repair the two vehicles and buy a new vehicle to replace the damaged one before being released from custody.
After making the payment, the owners of the vehicles would inform the police that they have resolved the matter.
Once that is done and drunk becomes sober, the police open a case of driving under influence of alcohol or drug. The driver then realizes that alcohol or drug has landed him to commit crime that costs him a lot of money or long prison sentence or both. He could also be dismissed from his job.
So please, avoid driving vehicles when you are under the influence of alcohol or drug because the end result is fatal.
The author can be reached through e-mail: akimgordon222@gmail.com