Alcohol
and Driving
Everybody
has probably heard the old slogan "Alcohol and
Driving Don’t Mix."
This
statement is sadly and painfully true. To avoid this
hazard, you should never drive a vehicle or operate
a vessel after drinking alcohol. Drinking and
driving is dangerous because drinking or using drugs
can substantially impair your judgment and reactions.
It
has been shown by studies of crashes that the higher
a driver's intoxication level, the more severe was their
crash.
It
has been estimated that on weekend nights one out of
ten drivers is legally drunk, while only one in two
thousand of these drivers is actually arrested for drunk
driving.
According
to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
and the National Safety Counsel, drunk driving:
 |
Alcohol
was involved in 40% of fatal crashes and in 8% of
all crashes in 2000. |
|
The
16,653 fatalities in alcohol-related crashes during
2000 represent an average of one alcohol-related
fatality every 32 minutes. |
|
An
estimated 310,000 persons were injured in crashes
where police reported that alcohol was present --
an average of one person injured approximately every
2 minutes. |
|
Approximately
1.5 million drivers were arrested in 1999 for driving
under the influence of alcohol or narcotics. This
is an arrest rate of 1 for every 121 licensed drivers
in the United States. |
Over
fifty percent of all highway crashes involving two or
more cars are alcohol-related and over sixty-five percent
of all single-car crashes involve alcohol.
In
1998 alcohol was a factor in over 43 percent of Nevada's
highway deaths.
Thirty-six
percent of all accidents with adult pedestrians involved
an intoxicated pedestrian.
Driving
Under the Influence (DUI) creates economic costs to
American taxpayers of about twenty-four billion dollars
per year. When drivers are intoxicated, the
risk of causing an accident is six times greater than
for non-drinkers.
Not
only driving a car while intoxicated is illegal upon
highways. It's also unlawful to ride a bicycle, or a
motorized scooter, under the influence of alcohol and/or
drugs. Any person arrested for a violation of this section
must submit to a chemical test of the person's blood,
breath, or urine for the purpose of determining the
alcoholic or drug content of that person's blood.
DUI
is the leading cause of death for Americans between
sixteen and twenty-four years old.
One
million teenagers in the United States are alcoholics.
A person under the age of twenty-one is more physically
susceptible to alcohol and can become an alcoholic in
as little as six months. Sixty percent of people killed
in drunk-driving accidents are in their teens, and nearly
twenty thousand teenagers are killed annually because
of drunk driving.
Driving
Under the Influence
Nevada
laws on driving under the influence (DUI) of alcohol
or drugs are tough. Under these laws there are two types
of penalties:
|
Administrative,
which is action taken against a driver by Department
of Motor Vehicles and Public Safety, regardless
of court findings. |
|
Criminal,
which is actions taken by the court system. |
If
an officer suspects you are driving under the influence,
you will be asked to take blood, breath, or urine tests.
These tests are given to find out if you have used alcohol
or drugs. You cannot refuse the tests: an officer may
direct that blood samples be drawn even on a first offence.
Under
Nevada's Per Se law, if chemical tests show an alcohol
concentration of .10 percent or more, or any detectable
amount of a controlled substance, your driving privilege
will be revoked. If you are under the age of 21 and
a chemical test shows an alcohol concentration of .02
percent, but less than .10 percent, your driving privilege
will be suspended. This is an administrative penalty
and the officer can take your license immediately.
NOTE:
Even though an alcohol concentration of .10 percent
is used as guide, you can be arrested and convicted
with a lower level.
|
