| TOLL AND TEARS |
As if we didn't already have enough traffic on the road, we've got impaired drivers to make things even worse.
There are more than 160 million licensed drivers in this country ... and 95 million drinkers. When you mix that many drinkers with that many drivers, you get a deadly concoction. Of course, there's one less drinker AND driver now that Bob here bought the farm. He'll be missed. One day, you're the life of the party, the next day you're history.
That's the way it goes when you drink and drive.
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 | This is what old Bob's car looked like after they scraped him out of it with a putty knife. Talk about getting smashed. I guess Bob had been drinking some pretty stiff cocktails: that's why he ended up as a stiff. Too bad for him, his wife, and his three children. |
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 | Two innocent lives were also lost: a young man and his pregnant wife. |
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We've all heard
the grim statistics (NHTSA, 99):  | - 15,786 people died in alcohol-related fatal crashes
- An alcohol-related fatal crash occurs every 33 minutes
- Alcohol-related fatalities account for 38% of total traffic fatalities
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We keep on killing ourselves at a record pace: mainly by hitting the sauce and then hitting the road. Well, this segment should help change your mind about drinking and driving.
Please pay attention. This is the most important section in this entire course. We're trying to save your life here.
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 | I'm Phil Donahue, and I'm about to say something you probably already know: drinking and driving don't mix. Of all the violent crimes in America, drinking and driving tops the list year after year. We call alcohol related crashes "collisions." Some have been called murders by the courts.
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Many situations involve a choice. A person knows that he or she has had too much to drink, yet drives anyway. Had they not chosen to get behind the wheel, the tragedy might never have happened. Some of us are beginning to get the message. The number of Americans killed in alcohol related crashes has gone down a lot since 1980. Some of us, however, still think it's okay to drink and drive. Some of us think we can handle a hefty amount of alcohol and still keep out of trouble. You are about to read documents that may finally change your mind and your behavior.
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Barbara Haley, devout Catholic, mother of 11, was returning from a prayer meeting on a summer afternoon when she was killed in a car collision on a federal parkway in Virginia.
David Fleming, a carpenter and an admitted alcoholic, had, while impaired, led police on a high-speed chase before crashing into Mrs. Haley's car. Mr. Fleming became the first man to be convicted of murder in a drinking and driving case, under federal statute.
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 | A new family begins.
Two families come together in love and are strengthened.
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 | For Dick Haley, the father of the groom, it is a happy moment.
All of his 11 children are assembled again. But even here, there is a void to fill with faith. For Margaret, wife and mother and keeper of the family spirit, gone over two years now, is still missed.
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 | We were a team working to raise a family, and the partnership -- husband and wife -- was shattered. The real question is, what does the Lord want me to do next?
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There's obviously a void; the decisions we used to share. What college they should go to, the boyfriends, the girlfriends, the weddings.
We had breakfast together every day -- she always fixed breakfast for me; we always read together and we did that with the children.
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-- Lew's wedding is coming up, and facing the next year, I look around, and the kids are two years into college and I'm here. The true impact probably is really going to set in after they're gone.
-- What do you mean by the true impact?
-- Well the true impact being, single life as opposed to married life. And I was married for 33 years.
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| The total shock initially is overwhelming. I never considered myself a person to break out in tears at the call. But I did when my dad cried, and at different times during the funeral, times that I knew were special to my mother. Today is the type of day I like to take a bicycle ride. Because I live just up the street, I could come in and visit my mom. |
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 | Michelle Haley will never forget her mother's death. It came three weeks before her wedding. |
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My mom and I made many arrangements together: the florist, the photographer -- the symbolic kinds of things. When she wasn't there, it hurt a lot. A lot of times, just the walking home -- coming into the house, and expecting to see her -- would hurt.
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 | You don't have that interaction any more, you don't have anyone that really cares as much about what silly things your kids did today. And you also don't have the feedback -- someone to ask, is this the right thing to do, is this something to expect?
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| And then there's the sharing -- my brothers and sisters will never experience her the way I did, like having her come and help me when the baby came. |
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| The youngest twins Vince and Kim went through their final year of high school without Mom. |
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 | At graduation, you see everyone taking pictures with their parents. You see moms and dads there. You feel loneliness. Things could be different -- your mother could be there taking pictures with you and bragging about you to the parent next door, or something like that.
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 | You grow up quick. You think about what she would have done -- you know, everyday things. And there isn't anybody in the house now. Being the youngest, you don't have to worry about younger kids to take care of. But you have to worry about Dad and the house. When you come home from school, there's nobody to talk to. |
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-- I can remember plenty of times months later, where I'll tell a friend, I'll go home and tell mom.
The Haleys believe that God simply called their mother to Him and that the family must establish itself in a new way.
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| I never felt outright anger for Mr.Fleming; that doesn't mean I don't miss Peggy. All those things that go with her, the whole change in lifestyle. But one has to start over again, pick up the pieces, and go forward and try to find out what your purpose in life is.
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 | Going to jail is probably the most humiliating and degrading thing that can happen to a person. I was born free, I always lived free: I don't want to be incarcerated.
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 | Among the inmates at this minimum-security prison in Texas is the alcohol-impaired driver convicted in Margaret Haley's death. David Fleming is serving a three-year sentence for murder but his payback actually began at impact. Both of his arms were broken, he had a dislocated hip, and both legs were broken.
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| I had seven broken ribs, a punctured lung, and a severe concussion. They put an artificial hip joint in my left hip, my right leg was all bowed and twisted. I don't remember but I sometimes think I'd been a lot better off if I would have been killed in that collision also.
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 | The 58-year old man's pain is not just physical.
Mr. Fleming wrote a letter to the Haleys, begging forgiveness.
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| I think a lot about her, her family, how they don't have her anymore. I think about her grandchildren, who don't understand what happened to their grandmother. It is a terrible thing that I've done. It's something that I did when I was impaired by alcohol, that I don't remember, yet it took a human life. |
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How does God look at it? A lot of nights I dream about it. I still have those dreams. I wake up crying. I did the whole first year. Still, it bugs me. I may be sitting, or reading. My mind drifts off to the collision. Not a day passes that I don't think about the collision.
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As in most impaired driving incidents, there were two previous alcohol-related arrests, and Mr. Fleming had been driving on a suspended license for several years. What inside you said it was okay?
The answer maybe in the unwillingness or inability of Mr. Fleming and the system to address his alcoholism. David Fleming admits the disease cost him two marriages, his career and now has left him convicted and crippled as he heads into his golden years.
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| -- All I can say is, look at what booze has done to me.
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In August, 1984, Teddy Crisp, his wife, and three daughters were among seven people killed at a bus stop in one of the worst auto collisions in the history of the nation's capital.
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 | Forty-two years old, Robert Williams pleaded guilty to seven counts of manslaughter and was sentenced to 35 years in prison -- no chance of parole. A macabre roll call confirms that impaired driving spares no color, creed, or age. |
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 | Lord knows that my daughter down there, she wants to go home.
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| In an instant, seven people were wiped out. Among them were a family of five: the Crisps -- Teddy, Sondra, Sunta, Sodia and two-week old Tondra.
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 | -- They made me come into the morgue to see my son. That's when I believed it. I didn't believe it until I saw him for myself. |
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 | At the morgue, Teddy and his family were numbers. To Sarah Crisp, they were family -- flesh and blood, like her other grandchildren. She was shaken, unable to attend the funeral, and the loss affected her health.
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| -- When they called me, and told me about the trial and matters related to my son, I had a stroke. There were sudden reminders. I walked right to the living room, and when I saw my children's picture on the television, I just screamed and started crying. I cried for two to three hours, just to let it all out.
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| Teddy's sister, Angela Johnson, said the recovery in the family has been very slow for some. Angela was four years older then Teddy. She was the one who had to identify all the bodies.
She hasn't been herself since. The family's veil of security has been torn away. Everybody's just overprotective.
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| Robert Williams could not say no to life in the streets, to the fruitless shortcuts. But the crime that brought him here, for the rest of his life, was not one of his robberies, or anything that would earn him bragging rights among inmates. He didn't mean it. He didn't even remember it happening. Only the aftermath. |
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| If there was any way I could save them, even if to lose my own life, I would save those kids. I wouldn't run over them, none of them. |
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I was wondering why all those people had died and I still lived. I couldn't understand that because of the type of life I lived.
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| You got seven innocent people, including children, who didn't have the chance to live. To see what life's all about. When you're responsible for seven lives that were lost because of negligence and stupidity, you have to deal with that. |
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"Do you wish you hadn't made it through alive?"
-- Yeah, I wish I hadn't, because there's a lot more suffering to be done when you're left alive.
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Williams was eight weeks out of prison on the day of the collision. He was happy to be free. At 42, he was determined, he said, to stay straight, and not die in jail. But he drank at a wedding reception and also took morphine. He blacked out at the wheel.
-- When you start drinking, you're not thinking about driving under the influence of alcohol, because you're not going anywhere at that particular time. Once the alcohol sets in and starts working on you, then you lose your sense of thinking. There's no rationale for it. It's stupidity.
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 | Williams had cared for more in life than the fast buck. He had been a parent, had held a number of jobs, and had been a drug counselor for a time.
--You can always fall off the track at any given time. The worst thing is to hang out where drugs are. That was one of my mistakes.
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| I plead guilty because I WAS guilty. All I ask is for their forgiveness, that's all. Maybe I'm paying for all the wrongs I've done in life, I don't know. Maybe that's why I was bad to myself. |
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| They're buried at Homily Cemetery. My husband's also buried there.
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| Did you go to the cemetery? |  |
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| I haven't been there yet. |
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| Why ? | |
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| I haven't been able to face up to it. But when my mind says go, I'll go. |
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 | Around the country, the phone is ringing and the emergency room is calling. Sometimes it's the morgue. |
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| The staggering number of Americans who have been hit by life's biggest punch in the nose -- the sudden death of a family member -- is getting to us. We are finally realizing that not only Americans have a drinking problem -- America has a drinking problem.
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| Our nation can benefit from AA's counsel to its members. Although it's difficult to accept that you have a problem, there is ample evidence that the United States, in the matter of alcohol consumption, is still lying to itself. |
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| For example, we continue to use the phrase "Alcohol and drugs." Alcohol IS a drug -- one that, if consumed, could kill the user and the Margaret Haleys or the Ted Crisps of America. |
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| We expose our children to television commercials that suggest drinking is the American thing to do -- a patriotic entitlement for a hard day's work.
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| We make drinking under the age of 21 illegal, but feature beer commercials in the telecasts of college sporting events. |
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| Have you ever noticed that the happy people in the commercial never actually consume the product? |
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| That is television's self-imposed restriction: we sell it on television, but we don't drink it on television.
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| This hypocrisy gives us away. Our guilt about our drinking is showing. We claim to have one or two drinks to relax. Relax means dulling the senses and slowing motor skills. Alcohol blunts awareness -- if it didn't, you couldn't give it away. And one or two drinks may be all it takes to make you an impaired driver.
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There is some good news, however: "happy hours" have been banned in 19 states.
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| Breweries no longer sponsor chug-a-lug contests on college campuses and alcohol rehab units and hospitals are running commercials that depict the agony of families with an alcoholic member. But we have only begun to meet our responsibility.
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Companies that make millions selling our most popular recreational drug ought to spend more of their profits reminding customers that their product can be abused. Commercials that urge caution should be as frequent and compelling as the ones that urge consumption. Stiffer laws have helped.
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If you're caught driving under the influence,
this is what can now happen to you: - 21 states can pull your license on the spot
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If you're caught driving under the influence,
this is what can now happen to you: - 21 states can pull your license on the spot
- There is no plea-bargaining in 12 states
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If you're caught driving under the influence,
this is what can now happen to you: - 21 states can pull your license on the spot
- There is no plea-bargaining in 12 states
- Most states jail repeat offenders
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And more and more states are joining this movement. We're finally getting tough on impaired drivers. While stiffer laws and stricter enforcement can help, the cops alone cannot solve this problem. We do not have the will to pay the taxes needed to maintain the jails and hire the police necessary to catch all of the offenders who are coming toward us everyday on every highway and at every intersection. Roadblocks, legal in 39 states, don't last forever.
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Our salvation lies not in the police but in ourselves. And that means coming out of the closet and admitting that most of us who drink occasionally drink too much. It means recognizing that many of us find it difficult to have a good time without alcohol. We do have a choice: we don't have to drink. We have the power to arrest this deadly trend. Our children are watching us and their lives many very well depend on how honest we are with ourselves and with them.
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| The people in this story consented to share their pain with us because they believe it might save lives. The memory of their loved ones is honored by their speaking through their tears and saying, "Don't let this happen to your family."
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Let's not waste their courage.
I'm Phil Donahue. | |
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| DUI |
 | In Florida, you will be convicted of driving under the influence with a blood alcohol concentration of 0.08 or more grams of alcohol per 100 milliliters of blood or per 210 liters of breath (s. 316.193(1)b,c).
This can have many dire consequences, such as fines, imprisonment, and loss of your driving privileges.
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Well, there's a sobering thought for you. Were you paying attention? In spite of the fact that we're constantly warned about the dangers of drinking and driving, some people just persist in this destructive behavior.
Let's watch now as we learn about the most serious driving problem.
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As you all know, a drug is any substance, prescribed or otherwise, legal or illegal, ingested or injected, which creates the expectation of achieving a more desirable physical or mental state. Drug use means taking any drug in any amount under any circumstance and a drug user is anyone who uses drugs for any reason. And if you don't already know, alcohol is considered a drug.
Alcohol-related traffic crashes are those in which ethyl alcohol was found to be present in one or more of the people involved. (And that's not rubbing alcohol!)
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Driving Under the Influence means having a blood- or breath-alcohol concentration of 0.10 or more grams of alcohol per 100 milliliters of blood or per 210 liters of breath in most states, or 0.08 or more grams of alcohol per 100 milliliters of blood or per 210 liters of breath in Florida. (s. 316.193(1)b,c) It also means not having normal use of mental and physical faculties from the consumption of alcohol, controlled substances, drugs, or a combination of two or more of these substances. (s. 316.193(1)a)
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DUI stands for Driving Under the Influence. These initials when associated with the task of driving spell only one word: TROUBLE.
BAC stands for Blood Alcohol Concentration. It is a test of blood, and used to measure the amount of alcohol found in the bloodstream.
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| PHYSIOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF ALCOHOL |
Alcohol has serious physiological effects on drivers. Being physically fit to drive is a major aspect of being a safe driver. The use and abuse of alcohol and other drugs is a serious health problem that can severely impair a person's ability to drive.
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Ethyl alcohol's status as the most commonly used and abused drug in the United States is confirmed each year by both state and national statistics, which indicate that approximately 38% of all traffic fatalities are alcohol related.
Remember, you can be convicted of DUI with a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.08 or more grams of alcohol per 100 milliliters of blood or per 210 liters of breath.
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In general, BAC and the accompanying impairment of essential bodily functions is primarily dependent on a person's size and the amount of alcohol ingested in a given period of time.
Loss of driving ability and the accompanying probability of a traffic collision dramatically increases as a person's BAC increases.
Use of any drug may adversely affect driving ability. Avoid them at all costs while driving.
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 | Taking more than one drug at a time is particularly dangerous since each can add significantly to the impact of the other, especially when one of the drugs is alcohol.
Let's look a little closer at what happens when you drink alcohol, and what the physiological effects are.
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BODY SIZE | Larger people have a greater volume of blood than smaller people and will generally acquire a lower BAC from a given quantity of alcohol. |
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ALCOHOL CONTENT | The more alcohol a given drink contains, and the more drinks a person consumes in a given period of time, the higher the BAC will be. |
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DRINK SIZE | A larger serving will usually contain more alcohol and produce a higher BAC than a smaller one. Also, be very careful when drinking specialty drinks that combine shots of higher proof alcohol or that have multiple shots of 80-proof alcohol. For example, a 12-oz. beer, a 5-oz. glass of wine, or 1.5 oz. of 80-proof liquor all contain the same amount of alcohol. These drinks can drastically impair individuals in a relatively short amount of time. |
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CONSUMPTION TIME AND IMPAIRMENT | All other factors being equal, the shorter the time period in which the drinking occurs, the higher one's BAC will be. Conversely, the longer the period of time after drinking, the lower the BAC becomes. In layman's terms, all this boils down to is, the more you drink, the more impaired you'll get. |
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AMOUNT OF FOOD INGESTED Although alcohol can't be neutralized by any food, stomach content can slow down its absorption. However, this situation only temporary saves a person from getting impaired.
After you've had a drink or two, you'll begin to feel the effects. |
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| The decision is up to you. Are you too impaired to drive? Only you can decide. But your judgment has been impaired by the alcohol. Are you really capable of deciding if you can safely drive at this point?
You may never know.
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| WHAT IS IMPAIRED BY ALCOHOL? |
Would you want to be operated on by a surgeon after he'd had five drinks? Or be on an airplane flown by a pilot in that condition?
You wouldn't? Then why would you let yourself get behind the wheel of a car? Especially if your vision has been affected. About 90% of what a driver identifies in a traffic scene is through his or her vision. A blood-alcohol concentration as low as 0.03 grams of alcohol per 100 milliliters of blood or per 210 liters of breath can lessen your muscular control by relaxing your fine eye muscles, affecting your visual acuity, depth perception, peripheral vision, color recognition and night vision.
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ALCOHOL IMPAIRS MENTAL FUNCTIONS The ability to foresee or anticipate what is likely to happen depends on one's ability to accurately process information.
Alcohol impairs these mental functions.
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Both anticipation and decision-making are aspects of one's thought process. Experiments have shown that blood-alcohol concentrations as low as 0.045 or more grams of alcohol per 100 milliliters of blood or per 210 liters of breath reduce the ability to anticipate accurately and make good decisions by up to 15 percent. Of particular concern is the willingness of a driver to take greater risks after drinking. Alcohol tends to produce more uninhibited and aggressive behavior, and thus, poor driving decisions.
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While alcohol affects a driver's judgment and thinking first, it will gradually impair motor skills and muscle coordination necessary for maintaining vehicle control.
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PSYCHOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF ALCOHOL: - Enhances aggression
- Impairs emotional control
- Impairs concentration
- Impairs memory
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| Alcohol also has some serious psychological effects that can cause abnormal behavior. Alcohol is a depressant that easily qualifies as a mind-altering drug. Remember that anger and aggressive driving behavior we talked about earlier? Well, nothing can bring it out like alcohol -- especially in males in competitive situations. Also, emotional control tends to be lost as more alcohol is consumed, and the ability to concentrate, especially on several sources of incoming information, is diminished. |
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The inability to retain information has been found to occur with a blood-alcohol concentration as low as 0.03 grams of alcohol per 100 milliliters of blood or per 210 liters of breath.
Especially in the early stages of impairment, some people learn to compensate by developing coping mechanisms which mask the effects of alcohol, such as not participating in those activities that might reveal their impairment.
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High tolerance to alcohol can reduce its physiological effects, but it's also a trap: if your tolerance is high, even if you have not started feeling impaired, you are impaired, your BAC can be illegal already. High tolerance is achieved primarily by drinking alcohol on a regular basis.
However, ongoing consumption of alcohol causes severe kidney, brain, and liver damage. In the most severe cases, alcoholics die due to a terminal phase of cirrhosis of the liver. Unfortunately, too many people still think drinking is harmless.
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| FINANCIAL CONSEQUENCES OF DUI |
Driving under the influence of alcohol can have serious consequences even if you don't kill yourself or someone else.
In all states, a person may be convicted of "driving under the influence" with a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.10 or more grams of alcohol per 100 milliliters of blood or per 210 liters of breath, and in some states it's 0.08 or more grams of alcohol per 100 milliliters of blood or per 210 liters of breath.
In Florida, it's 0.08 or more grams of alcohol per 100 milliliters of blood or per 210 liters of breath. (s. 316.193(1)b,c)
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The penalties include fines, imprisonment, and loss of driving privileges. (s. 316.193(2)a)
In Florida, it is unlawful for a person under the age of 21 who has a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.02 or more grams of alcohol per 100 milliliters of blood or 210 liters of breath, to drive or be in actual physical control of a motor vehicle. (s.322.2616(1)a)
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You can be fined up to $500.00 but not less than $250.00, have your license revoked from 180 days up to one year, receive a jail sentence of up to 6 months, and probation for at least a year, community service for at least 50 hours, and you must complete a substance abuse course. (s. 316.193(1)a, 316.193(2)a, 316.193(6)a, 316.193(5))
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If you receive a second conviction, you will lose your license for at least five years, pay fines from $500.00 to $1000.00, spend at least ten days in jail, and you must complete a substance abuse course. (s. 316.193(1)b, 316.193(2)b, 316.193(6)b, 316.193(5))
If you receive a third conviction you will lose your license for at least 10 years, pay fines from $1000.00 to $2500.00, spend at least 30 days in jail, and you must complete a substance abuse course. (s. 316.193(1)c, 316.193(2)c, 316.193(6)c, 316.193(5))
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The financial burden a DUI conviction places on you can be as bad, if not worse, than the punishment.
When you're first arrested, you'll need money to post bail after you're booked. Otherwise, you're likely to stay in jail pending trial.
You'll also have to pay for having your car towed to the pound plus daily impoundment fees. (s. 316.193(6))
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When your case goes to trial, you'll have to hire an attorney to defend you in court.
If you're convicted, there will be a fine, up to $2000. (s. 316.193(2)a(1))
If you're sent to jail, you will lose your wages, maybe even your job.
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Your insurance premiums could rise dramatically, possibly even double what they are now.
And if you kill or injure someone, you might be facing an expensive court case that will cost you attorney fees, court costs, and civil damages that could bankrupt you.
Just think of what is on the line: your financial security, your job, your reputation, and your life. Why risk it all by drinking and driving?
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 | The odds are against you.
... And so is the law.
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| IMPLIED CONSENT LAW |
 | Oh man, isn't that going to be a swell party? Great conversation, witty people, wonderful food, even slow dancing. Yeah, there's nothing like an evening at the vomitorium to get the old juices flowing.
Sorry I couldn't make it guys, but my social calendar is booked solid.
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| Speaking of getting booked, it's a lot easier than you think when you drink and drive. Because like the man said, the law is against you. Especially the Implied Consent law (s. 316.1932(1)(a)1). |
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| Under the Implied Consent law, a driver could face an automatic 1-year license suspension for the first violation and eighteen months for a second or subsequent refusals. When you drive a motor vehicle you have given your consent to be tested for chemical substances. (s. 316.1932(1)(a)1) |
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Any person who drives a motor vehicle is deemed to have consented to chemical testing of their blood, breath or urine. In other words, the consent to testing is implied by virtue of the fact that you're driving. The testing has to be a result of a lawful arrest by a peace officer. (s. 316.1932(1)(a)1) And there has to be reasonable cause to believe that the driver was under the influence of a chemical substance. (s. 316.1932(2)c)
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The driver may be asked to take a breath test, a blood test, or a urine test. (s. 318.1932(1)(a)1)
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It also results in a one-year license suspension for the first violation and eighteen months for a second or subsequent refusal to submit to a test. (s. 316.193(1))
It is also important to know that even if you do not have a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.08 or more grams of alcohol per 100 milliliters of blood or per 210 liters of breath or higher, you may still be charged with DUI. (s. 316.1934(1), (2)b)
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The driver does not have the right to have an attorney present before deciding to take the test or during the administration of the test.
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Let's say you refuse the test because you're afraid of what your blood alcohol concentration might be. Your refusal could prove to be damaging evidence in court. Without test results, it'll be your word against the arresting officer's.
Some police units use videotape to help build very strong cases against drivers suspected in DUI.
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Remember, when you drive a motor vehicle, you have automatically given your consent to be tested under the Implied Consent law. (s. 316.1932(1)(a)1)
So if you mix drinking with driving and you get stopped by the police, don't expect the same old song and dance. This is no ordinary traffic violation. Impaired drivers are treated like the serious menace they are.
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| EFFECTS OF OTHER DRUGS |
| Other drugs, both legal and illegal, can affect the task of driving. |
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Marijuana Marijuana is classified as a mild hallucinogen. It primarily affects the way the user perceives things.
Currently, marijuana is second only to alcohol as the drug most often found in the bodies of collision victims.
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Marijuana acts as a depressant and sometimes as a stimulant.
It primarily acts as a depressant, but depending on the user's mood and experience, it may sometimes act as a stimulant.
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Studies of the effects of marijuana on driving performance have resulted in the following findings:
Complex reaction time is slowed, giving the driver less time to avoid hazards.
Errors in recognition and interpretation of traffic signs, signals and pavement markings are more likely. And attention span and the ability to concentrate on several things simultaneously are lowered.
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Accurate judgment of time and distance are lessened, causing problems when passing, following, or stopping. Considering all these facts, why in the world would you ever want to drive high?
Combining marijuana and alcohol produces a synergistic effect that results in driving performance which is significantly worse than that experienced when either of the drugs is taken alone.
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Cocaine Cocaine is classified as a stimulant. It can produce extreme mood swings from feelings of joy and happiness to violent hallucinations and severe depression.
Both usage and cocaine-related deaths in the U.S. have increased dramatically since 1980.
Side effects are blurred vision and slowed recovery, which impair perception and thus reduce a person's ability to drive safely.
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Although over-the-counter drugs account for 70 percent of all drug purchases, they can and do adversely affect driving performance. By law, their label must provide adequate directions for use including recommendations for operating machinery, which should be strictly followed.
WARNING: you can be convicted of a DUI if you use over-the-counter or prescription drugs if your normal facilities are impaired. |
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INHALANTS | Although not usually considered drugs, the effects of inhalants include impaired vision and judgment, reduced muscular control, lower blood pressure, heart irregularities, inflammation of the nasal passages and lungs, wheezing and coughing, and asphyxiation in severe cases. Their intoxicating effects can last from 15 to 45 minutes. |
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| PARTY PLANNING |
If you're old enough to drive a motor vehicle, it's assumed that you're mature enough to make rational decisions. But when it comes to alcohol, rational thought seems to go right out the window. Remember, if you plan on going out, the best thing to do is to plan on not drinking at all. However, if abstinence is not in your plans, make sure you designate a driver who plans on not drinking.
And if you're out and have been drinking, call a cab to take you home. All it will cost is a little cab fare and a little time the next morning to pick up your car.
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Just think of what the possible consequences of your actions might be before drinking and driving. A little extra thought that will not only save you a lot of money but can also save your life. Remember, the only safe amount of alcohol to consume and drive is no alcohol at all.
The old saying, "everything in moderation, nothing in excess" is a motto we could all live by when it comes to drinking. Do you think people are capable of deciding whether they are too impaired to drive? Would YOU want to RIDE with someone like that? Would you even want to be out there, knowing one of these guys was on the road? I've got news for you -- they are.
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| SYNERGISM |
The effects of taking two or more drugs at the same time can result in more than a "one plus one" effect. In other words, the total effect of combining drugs may be greater than -- and quite different from -- what one would expect the two individual drugs to do.
Any time alcohol is mixed with another drug, it is likely to produce a synergistic effect, the outcome of which no one could predict.
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 | I don't know about you, but the last thing I want to do is play "avoid the impaired." |
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| I mean, come on, even a little common sense tells me that alcohol and driving should be kept away from each other. If you can understand that driving under the influence could potentially ruin your own life and the lives of others, then you're on your way to owning a valuable piece of knowledge. |
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Oh yeah -- one more thing, it's break time, so of course there's still that little matter of the test. Don't forget about the 1-800 instructor: 800.574.1561. I'll see you in a bit.
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