CATES: Please don’t drive drunk or drugged

Every New Year’s Eve since college, I think about the cost of driving drunk or drugged. My best friend and roommate graduated in early December and a little more than 3 weeks later, on New Year’s Eve, she was killed by a drunk driver. She was only 22. I would love to say she is the only person I have known who died in this senseless way, but she’s not. As awful as that was, she’s not the worst one. My husband’s best friend since elementary school and his wife lost their 8-year-old daughter to a person under the influence as well. The person that killed their child had multiple arrests for driving intoxicated behind the wheel, yet he still had a driver’s license and access to a vehicle. Even after killing that child and other children in the car, that person served a short sentence. Since then, the penalties for drugged or drunk driving have increased, and statistically, the numbers for drunk driving have gone down each year since the early 1980’s, though drugged driving is not decreasing at the same rates. Still, far too many people are killed when people are driving drunk or drugged. For this problem, like so many, the best medicine is not dealing with the aftermath, but preventing the problem to begin with.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), drunk or drugged driving accounts for more than a quarter of all traffic deaths, and in the week between Christmas and New Year’s roughly 300 people die every year related to driving while under the influence. That is one person every 33 minutes during that week. Over the rest of the year, it’s one person every 50 minutes. Either statistic is far too much. In Texas, unfortunately, we exceed the national average on pretty much every statistic for drunk or drugged driving: overall death rates, percentage of adults who report driving after taking drugs or drinking too much in the past 30 days, and death rates among people under age 20, just to name a few. 25% of all crash deaths could be eliminated if people with a blood alcohol level about 0.08% were kept off roads. When I was a young nurse, we changed the terminology about car wrecks because of the number of crashes caused by drugs and alcohol. We used to call car wrecks MVA’s (motor vehicle accidents), now we call them MVC’s (motor vehicle collisions). The reason is because if someone is drinking or drugged and driving, the car wreck is not really an accident, it’s statistically predictable.

Texas does take drunk and drugged driving seriously. It is illegal to drive with a blood alcohol level above 0.08% if the person is of legal drinking age, and any amount of alcohol in the system of someone below 21 while driving is illegal. Ignition interlocks are required for all convicted offenders, even first- time offenders. Jail sentences are becoming longer and are mandated for recurrent offenses as well. All those things make a big difference. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) deterrence is the best method of preventing driving under the influence. People are less likely to drive under the influence id they think they will get caught. This means sustained, visible, and well-publicized enforcement of the laws so people know they are likely to get caught and if they do, the penalties are severe.

The other preventative measures are ones we can all help with. If you are planning on going to an event where there is alcohol or drugs, agree on a designated driver. If you are hosting an event, encourage Uber, taxis, or other forms of safe transport, or even ask people to stay over rather than letting people get into a car if they are impaired. If you drink or take drugs, give someone else your keys at the beginning. Don’t wait until you are too intoxicated to make good decisions about drunk or drugged driving. Remember the saying “buzzed driving is drunk driving” when you are considering getting behind the wheel after drinking or drugs.

Over 10,000 people die every year in the US related to drunk or drugged driving. Let’s make 2022 a better year by starting it out safer because fewer people are driving drunk or drugged. Please keep yourself and the people in your life safe by enjoying the holidays, but also by staying off the roads and keeping others from getting behind the wheel if they have been drinking or taking drugs.

I hope you have a safe, happy, and healthy 2022!