Drunk Driving and Your Health: What Are The Real Risks

Drunk driving is dangerous, but still millions of people from all over the world do it every day. They might say, “Nothing happened to me, no one was hurt either, and I was able to get home safely. So there’s nothing to worry about.” Even if nothing happened to you, it doesn’t mean that you are making the right decision because drunk driving is simply being irresponsible.

Drunk driving has serious risks not just to yourself but to others as well.

Drunk Driving Has Serious Consequences

Drinking too much alcohol can seriously affect affect your judgment. For instance, you still think that you are very much capable of driving a vehicle even though you’ve consumed a lot of alcohol, which is both illegal and extremely dangerous. Aside from the legal repercussions that drunk driving can bring, you can end up in jail, get injured, or worse, death.

Effects of Alcohol to your Body

For every bit of alcohol that you consumed, it will be absorbed into your bloodstream through your stomach and small intestine. It is then broken down by your liver before the body gets rid of it in the form of urine.

Our liver breaks down alcohol, but the process cannot be sped up.
As the liver breaks down all the alcohol you’ve consumed, it continues to be absorbed in your bloodstreams which affects all your body organs and functions.
Once alcohol reaches your brain, you will start to feel drunk. However, the effects of the alcohol on the brain varies from person to person and from how much alcohol you’ve consumed.
Alcohol depresses your brain and slows down its ability to control your mind and body.

This is the exact reason why drunk driving is hazardous. Alcohol affects your ability to drive. It acts as a sedative, and it slows down your body functions essential for driving correctly such as muscle coordination, reaction time, and reflexes. Also, drinking too much alcohol can lower your heart rate or breathing rate.

How Alcohol Affects Your Ability to Drive?

Driving uses a couple of basic skills simultaneously. Judgment, reaction time, decision making, and perception are all important for you to drive properly. But if you had too much alcohol, these skills will be seriously affected, and you will find yourself unable to drive properly.

Here are some things that usually happens when you drive while drunk.

Your ability to gauge distances will become limited.
You will find yourself having a hard time parking your car or taking it out of a parking spot.
You will have more difficulty adjusting to the sudden darkness.
You have a hard time controlling your speed.
Your peripheral vision becomes too narrow causing you to ignore road signs, pedestrian lanes, and traffic.
Your reaction time becomes slower, especially when reacting to an emergency situation such as braking at the appropriate moment.

It is because of these reasons why drunk driving is strictly prohibited in all countries. Drunk driving is illegal and punishable by law. If caught by authorities, you might face a jail sentence and be subject to hefty fines. Also, drunk driving can cause minor or severe injuries, and even worse, death, depending on the nature of the accident. You may refer to this site should you have any queries on just how much impact vehicular accidents may have on your health, especially those associated with vehicles such as trucks or even bicycles.

Health Risks Associated to Drinking Too Much Alcohol

Here’s what most likely can happen to you if you had too much alcohol in your body.

You may vomit all the time.
Passing out without remembering anything you did while you were drunk.
You may pass out anywhere, which could put your personal safety at risk.
You may have an embarrassing or dangerous behavior when you get drunk.
Hangover which can cause nausea, headache, fatigue, sore muscles, upset stomach, and lack motivation the following day.
May lead to minor or severe injuries resulting from lack of body coordination and inhibitions.
In some cases, too much alcohol might lead to untimely death. Too much alcohol can cause nervous system failure, or choking on your own vomit.
Alcohol affects your brain. It disrupts some of your brain functions, which can cause lack of coordination, change in behavior, and mood swings.

Always remember that alcohol is a depressant. It can slow down the functions of your central nervous system. Your normal brain functions will be delayed causing you to have a hard time doing a particular task such as driving. Alcohol affects your ability to process information and your hand-eye coordination skills; both of which are essential for driving.

For your safety and others, just don’t drive if you have had alcohol. Drinking before driving can increase the risk of a vehicular accident, which may lead to injuries and in some cases, death. The more alcohol you consume, the more likely you’re going to be involved in a car accident.

Be responsible the next time you drink. There’s nothing wrong with consuming alcohol, but drunk driving? That’s something that you really don’t want to do.

Joanne Reed

Joanne Reed has been writing about law and business for almost a decade, and is currently writing her next big law project. She is an avid sports fan and loves watching games if she has free time.