Drinking Accidents
A motor vehicle crash is recognized as alcohol related or one of those drinking accidents when at least a driver or a non-occupant (like a pedestrian) that is involved in that crash has a BAC or blood alcohol concentration of 0.01 gram/deciliter (g/dL) or above. A person involved in a crash is considered alcohol impaired when exhibiting a 0.08 BAC or higher. These are the classifications as described by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration or NHTSA.
Other information about drunk driving:
- Over 25% of teens who die in car accidents were drunk driving
- More than 12% of fatal car accidents in the United States are alcohol-related
- Every 22 minutes, someone dies in drinking accidents
- Over 3,000 teenager deaths result from injuries from alcohol-related car accidents.
- The highest drinking crashes in America are from 18 year olds.
These accidents are so rampant that many activists and lawmakers have taken very aggressive steps towards making the public aware of this issue and campaigning for drunk driving to stop. Many of these activists are family members and friends who have lost their loved ones to alcohol-related crashes, and they are voicing out their disdain at people who endanger their lives and the lives of others by driving under the influence of alcohol.
Why do these accidents occur so often?
Alcohol consumption prevents the mind body to react in time to certain stimuli. The reflexes become slower. Vision, especially at night, is blurred by a significant percentage, and the ability to judge distances, directions, and other important driving factors is impaired. The concentration is also disturbed as drowsiness increases, thus the driver may have a hard time paying attention to traffic lights, road signs, and sounds in the streets. The coordination of the driver’s body and mind also fails to a certain point, and so the body cannot always do exactly as the mind tells it. Furthermore, and most dangerous of all, alcohol, especially when present in large amounts in the body, prevents a person from making safe and rational decisions.
What are signs of drunk driving?
Someone may be driving drunk if you observe some of these things happening on the street: too fast driving, too slow driving, erratic speeds, non-use of headlights or signal lights, swerving, driving too close to other vehicles, and over-all reckless driving. Suspected potential accidents should be reported immediately to authorities to prevent injuries and deaths of drivers, passengers and innocent passersby.
What should you do?
Instead of exposing yourself to the dangers of drunk driving, be responsible enough to know the best way to leave a party. Take a public transportation such as the bus or a taxicab. Better yet, before entering the party with your friends, have a designated driver who is not allowed to drink a single drop of alcohol. If you think you and your friends are going get drunk after a party, ask the host if you guys can stay over for the night so that everyone is safe. The last one is to ask someone to pick you up. It does not matter whether you’ve just consumed a glass, or 6 bottles, you should not drink and drive. Drinking accidentshave already stolen the lives of so many people; do not let yourself become a victim who contributed to his demise.
Giving Up Alcohol
Alcohol has been present in the society of men for a long time. It was used generally for celebration and religious ceremonies in prehistoric time. Way back the time of Greek philosophers, giving up alcohol was not widely thought of.
The Greeks had a philosophy of drinking, eating and being merry. They believed that the fulfillment of one’s life is to enjoy the physical world and its pleasure. This was later contradicted by other Greek philosophers but the habit of drinking alcohol in excess was fixed in their social activities and giving up on the bottle was a challenge for the philosophers and that society entirely.
In today’s society, alcohol abuse is alive and kicking. In Greek times, the people found reasons to celebrate every night to make an excuse for drinking. Nowadays, celebrations are not needed. Most people who are addicted to alcohol drink it at anytime at all. For alcoholics of the present society, giving up alcohol is the hardest thing to do as their system is already dependent on alcohol.
There are a lot of effects brought about by alcohol. It does not only affect the alcoholic but also the people around them. Being an alcoholic can cause violence and turmoil. Alcohol impairs judgment and motor skills and that can lead to relationship problems and neglect of responsibilities. Alcohol also tends to make a person emotional and violent; that is why alcoholics often lash out and be involved in public disturbances and domestic violence, theft, destruction of public property and sometimes even death and murder.
Most alcoholics’ claim that they do not need help giving up alcohol; most are in denial that they are dependent on alcohol. That is why most alcoholics end up alone; because they tend to disgrace, neglect and hurt the people around them.
There are many ways to help those who want to stop. There is rehab, support groups, therapy, and video diaries. A person submitting himself to rehab will undergo intense supervision and shall develop self discipline to control alcoholic tendencies. Support groups are a group of people who share the same problem and help one another to quit alcohol. Therapy however, requires the presence of a psychologist or a psychiatrist to help the patient in giving up alcohol.
For alcoholics, friends, family and relatives should also be involved in the process. Giving up the habit cannot be done alone. It takes the effort and support of everyone involved in the alcoholic’s life.
Tips
For those who live with alcoholics and want to help them in quitting, there are a few requisites. First, the alcoholic should realize and admit that he has become dependent on alcohol and he needs help. Partly, the responsibility falls upon the family and friends of the alcoholic to help him realize the truth of his dependence to alcohol.
Metanoia
The other requisite is to know if the alcoholic actually wants to quit alcohol. If the alcoholic is forced into rehab, it would only cause numerous fall backs. So the essential step is to have him want to quit alcohol.
It is imperative for the alcoholic to have a complete change of mind. This is the key to successful and continues independence from alcohol: to completely want to turn away from alcohol and to yearn for better days.
The alcoholic should have the right motivation and the best of these are going to be for themselves and for their loved ones. Giving up alcoholis hard for alcohol dependent people. In this way, the alcoholic’s aim is to be better for the sake of the people around them and their happiness and health.
Alcoholism Symptoms And Its Effects
Have you ever felt guilty about the number of bottles you have drunk and the frequency of drinking alcohol? Have you ever suspected that you might be displaying some alcoholism symptoms? Haven’t you people talking about alcoholism symptoms and its effects? Here are some information that can help you prevent from succumbing to the downward spiral that is alcoholism.
An estimated 140 million people worldwide, according to the World Health Organization, are alcoholics. Alcoholics are described as people who engage in uncontrolled and compulsive consumption of alcohol, with no regard to the known effects it has on them. It can also be referred to as alcohol abuse or alcohol dependence. It is an addictive disorder that affects people in too many aspects of their lives and can only lead to more negative issues towards themselves and the people around them.
The social environment of the person plays a big role in alcoholism. Peer pressure is one of them. People who are surrounded by buddies who like to drink excessively are more likely to develop alcoholism than those who engage in other hobbies with their friends. Stress is another factor that can lead to alcohol abuse. Having knowledge on alcoholism and its effects will lead you to think twice.
It can stem from stress from the workplace, stress from family life, or just simple stress. Genetic predisposition, age, ethnic group, and even gender are also determining factors in alcoholism.
It is ironic that stress, a psychological factor, can lead to alcoholism, and also become even more pronounced when someone becomes an alcoholic. It also further leads to other disorders like anxiety and depression, psychosis, panic disorder, anti social personality disorder, bipolar disorder, attention deficit – hyperactivity disorder. Alcoholism has also proven to be the second leading cause of dementia in old people. It is a dangerous illness that causes severe damage to brain function and will only lead to more stress – a vicious cycle indeed.
Intoxication, a constant state of alcoholics, also causes regular function to decrease. Because of this the social relationships of an alcoholic become severely affected. Alcoholism has been linked to many criminal offenses such as domestic violence, child abuse, assault, and rape. Drunk driving is also one fatal effect of intoxication, and the loss of an innocent victim’s life, or your own, should be enough reason to try to prevent it from ever happening.
Aside from destroying close personal relationships, an alcoholic can also begin to have problems in his professional life. Alcoholism symptoms may also begin to manifest itself in the workplace. The job never gets done on time, or at all. Your co-workers begin to detest your presence during company parties and even in the workplace, and you have an increasing suspicion that they don’t want you around at all. Eventually it can lead to missing workdays and begins to become a pattern.
And eventually you lose your job.
So how do you know you suffer from alcoholism? Surely you will think a few drinks everyday can’t do any harm; however, it can, and you may not be aware of it. You may be aware of it, but you turn a blind eye on what’s happening because you feel it is the only way you can deal with personal issues. The CAGE Questionnaire, usually used in clinics as a first screening test for suspected alcoholics can help:
- Have you ever felt you needed to Cut down on your drinking?
- Have people Annoyed you by criticizing your drinking?
- Have you ever felt Guilty about drinking?
- Have you ever felt you needed a drink first thing in the morning (Eye-opener) to steady your nerves or to get rid of a hangover?
If you answered yes to at least 2 of the questions above, go to a clinic for further investigation by a professional. The earlier you can manage the problem, and knowing alcoholism symptoms and its effects, the better chances you have of overcoming it. There is no reason for you to further damage your health and your life by alcohol abuse and dependency. If you experience any or some of the above-mentioned alcoholism symptoms, seek help now.
