IMPAIRED DRIVING (Driving Under the Influence of Alcohol and/or Drugs)

WHAT WE KNOW

If you drive under the influence of alcohol or drugs, you are breaking the law. Your judgment, reflexes, and coordination are all compromised. You will experience these effects:

• Slow reaction time
• Alteration of depth perception
• Hyperactivity from a high
• Reduction of peripheral vision
• Confusion
• Drowsiness
• Lack of awareness of surroundings

Impaired driving puts teens at higher risks of injury or death.

• Alcohol-related fatality rates are nearly twice as great for 18-, 19-, and 20-year-olds as for those over age 21.
• Young drivers are less likely than adults are to drive after drinking alcohol, but their crash risks are substantially higher when they do. This risk is especially true at low and moderate blood alcohol concentrations and is thought to result from teens’ relative inexperience as new drivers.
• The 2002 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse revealed that the rate of drugged driving increased with each year of age, peaking among 19-year-olds at 16% and generally decreased with increasing age among those age 20 or older.

 

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