Drunk Driving Essay Example

The Saturday night party was the place to be. Anyone who is anyone was there. John's curfew is midnight and its 12:05. Mark had been doing quite a lot of drinking and he was John's ride home. John questioned whether or not he wanted to get in the car with Mark, but thought about how mad his parents were going to be. He was already five minutes late. Saying to himself "Just this one time," he decided to get in the car. John never made it home that night. Mark had rolled the car off the bridge one mile away from his house. John lost his life all because he was afraid of getting grounded. There are many situations similar to John's, and in a lot of them, no one survives. Because of all the death and tragedy as a result of driving under the influence of alcohol, I feel that there should be an increased punishment if caught.
The legal definitions of "driving" and "drunk" are open to many interpretations, which vary greatly from state to state. In some places, "driving" can include sitting still in a parked or wrecked vehicle with the motor off, or starting up a car in a driveway. Police can and do arrest people whom they believe are drunk before they get on the road and even when they've pulled off to "sleep it off," just if they're in the driver's seat. As for the definition of "drunk," there are several major factors to consider. You can be "legally impaired" as viewed by the law without ever taking a drink, if you have taken other substances like prescription drugs that affect your ability to drive. You can also be found drunk even when you can function properly in every way.
You can be found guilty of drunk driving, also called driving while intoxicated (DWI) or driving under the influence (DUI), if the state can prove that you have more then the legal limit of alcohol in your system. Even if your alcohol level is lower than the legal intoxication level, you can still be convicted if the state can show your abilities were impaired.
Blood tests