United Kingdom sees over 1000 people deaths every year due to accidents where a person was driving under the influence. There are strict regulations against drunken driving. Despite which people break the rules and norms to drive under the influence. Why are people doing what they shouldn’t be doing even when it is against the law? Do they not care about their lives or the lives of others?
These are the questions that would have popped up after you read the first sentence. This also tells us that you may have thought about this as a serious issue and care for the people around you. The answer to the questions above is not that people do not know the law. The absolutely do. But they are not aware of the implications of their actions.
Yes. Most people who drive under the influence are not aware that they are not in control of themselves. They simply overestimate their ability and their motor skills. In many places those around the person who is drunk coerce them into driving under the pretext of having fun or proving a point. It is moments like these that define the events that are going to follow. A crash, a bang and a funeral.
To understand what happens when a person gets drunk or sloshed, we should take a look at what happens to the body. Any substance taken into the human body goes in via the mouth down the oesophagus into the stomach and then into the small intestines. If the person has had enough to eat the food will absorb the alcohol. The residual alcohol will seep into the small intestine. The porous intestine will let the residual alcohol into the bloodstream. The circulatory system is like a viaduct. This means that the blood flows into the body quickly and reaches the lungs and brains, thus increasing the level of blood alcohol.
Meanwhile the liver is trying its best to break down the alcohol into usable components, provided that there is also food in your stomach. If there’s no food in the digestive system, far more alcohol reaches the intestine directly and then to the blood circulation. This is why people on an empty stomach get intoxicated faster. Since the breaking down of alcohol involves the type of alcohol, the mixer, the food and the rate at which it was consumed it makes it difficult for the liver to keep up to the pace of the blood alcohol.
This blood alcohol reaches the brain and fiddles with it. It destabilizes the neuro transmitters that enable our actions. It does so by directly affecting out cerebellum which is responsible for our sense of balance and motor impulses. The alcohol also affects the cerebral cortex, where it slows down the way things function leading to slurring and blabbering. This means that our ability to process any sort of information from our senses is lowered or lost for a brief moment in time. A quiet brief one at that.
This is the effect that a body goes through every time a person drinks. This means that nobody ever has the ability to be coordinated and drive safely however little they may have had to drink. Anytime a person comes and tells you how they drove their car once they got drunk, you can be 100 percent sure they were lying. It is simply impossible to do so and we all know how long the memory of a drunk night lasts.
So what can be done about this?
Awareness is the answer. The biological sense on what happens to the body has to be spread wide and large to the people who do go out on such nights. Many may argue about driving under the limit. But the breathalyser checks your blood alcohol level and that directly depends on your BMI, metabolism and other physical factors which varies according to you food intake and alcohol intake that night. Do the math while attempting to stand straight after a few rounds.
A good talk with these people from their loved ones is the best way to start. Additionally, it’s advisable to take public transport or a taxi while going drinking. Deny them their own transport even though they have their dvla and private number plates. It’s not just about the safety of the person but the safety of the other around them too. After all life is precious, be it yours or another’s.
Kent Charlie
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