Alabama’s roads can be outright deadly during the winter holiday season. In fact, a new study from HelpAdvisor.com puts this state in the ninth position for the most deadly car crashes over the holidays in the entire nation – and about 38% of those are caused by drunk driving.
At this point, everybody knows that drunk driving is a bad idea. The penalties, if a driver is caught, are fierce, and they’re even worse when a drunk driver causes a crash.
Why, then, do people keep getting behind the wheel after they’ve had a few drinks? Here are some common reasons:
They don’t want to ask for help (or can’t)
People with chronic drinking problems may be too embarrassed to ask for a ride home from a friend or family member each time they fall off the wagon. (Or, they may have burned all their bridges because of their past behavior and have nobody to call.)
They don’t equate buzzed driving with drunk driving
Telling people that they’re not legally impaired until they have a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of .08% translates to, “It’s okay to drink a little and then drive.” Until there are zero-tolerance policies in place, people will continue to think it’s okay to get behind the wheel of a vehicle after just one or two drinks – even if that slows their reflexes or impairs their judgment.
They don’t realize how drunk they are
You see this a lot with holiday drinkers and binge drinkers. Human beings are surprisingly bad at being able to tell how inebriated they really are. That can fool someone into believing that they’re still sober enough to drive even when they’re above the legal limit.
The winter holidays are a dangerous time out their on the roads. Practice defensive driving when you go out. If you are injured in a collision due to a drunk driver, however, make sure that you take immediate steps to protect your interests and get the compensation you are due.