Notes

Soon we will discuss in more detail the victims and other tolls of drunk driving, but for now, consider this: the NHTSA estimates that two out of every three people will be involved in an alcohol-related traffic collision in their lifetimes.
Given these tolls, it should be no surprise that traffic collisions cost Texas almost $5 billion a year (in terms of medical costs and lost productivity)—over $300 per licensed driver.

In 2013, impaired drivers killed 2,724 people either in the impaired driver's car or in another vehicle. Think about what this means:

1,567—the number of people who got into a car thinking the driver was not too impaired to drive, and who then died in a crash
1,157—the number of people who were in their own vehicle and were struck and killed by an impaired driver
121—the number of children age 14 and younger who were killed when the vehicle they were in was involved in a collision caused by an impaired driver

Today, every car is manufactured with safety systems including seat belts, crumple zones, and air bags.
But none of these can change the fact that 3,000 lbs of metal and plastic moving at 60 mph is an extremely dangerous thing.
Impaired driving puts everyone on the road in danger.

Impaired drivers also put pedestrians and bicyclists at greater risk of death or serious injury.

In 2013, there were 4,735 total pedestrian fatalities.
Of these fatalities, 701 (15%) were caused by drivers with a 0.08% BAC or higher.
Children under the age of 14 represented 29 of these pedestrian victims of fatal impaired driving collisions.
If you're driving impaired and you strike and kill a pedestrian, there's a 1-in-24 chance that you will be killing a child.

In 2013, there were 743 total bicyclist fatalities.
252 (34%) of these bicyclists were killed in collisions in which either the bicyclist, the driver, or both were under the influence of alcohol.
213 (29%) of these bicyclists were killed in collisions in which either the bicyclist, the driver, or both had a BAC of 0.08% or higher.

Police officers, construction workers, and others who must sometimes work near traffic are at a special risk from drunk drivers.
Alcohol impairment makes each of the following cases more likely and more fatal:

Police offers often have to pull over another vehicle for possible traffic offenses. While walking between vehicles on the side of the road, officers are unprotected and are often struck by other drivers.

Construction workers often must spend several hours a day working on the side of the road. Warning signs are intended to prevent injuries to construction workers, but these warnings are not always seen or heeded.
Crossing guards, on-street traffic police, and paramedics also spend time on the roadway as a part of their job. All such workers are at a greater risk of being struck by a vehicle.

Of the 10,076 alcohol-impaired crash fatalities in 2013, a total of 665 victims were age 65 or older. That's about 1 out of 15 people who were killed in a drunk driving crash that year.
The death of an elderly person is not less tragic because of his or her age. People over 65 often have large extended families including grandchildren. Many of their friendships and other relationships have lasted for several decades.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, motor vehicle crashes were the leading cause of death for children age 4, and the second leading cause of death for all other ages between 3 and 14, in 2013.
Children age 14 and younger suffered 1,149 traffic fatalities nationwide in 2013, and 200 (17%) of these children were killed by drunk drivers. That's the equivalent of one child dying every 44 hours. Among all drunk driving fatalities, there was a 1-in-50 chance that the victim was under 14 years old.
What's worse, 121 children were killed in crashes in which the driver responsible for them was the impaired one.

Are you 16 to 20 years old? If so, then you are in one of the most vulnerable age groups. In 2013, 837 people age 16 to 20 were killed in drunk driving crashes—that's about 1 in 12 people killed by drunk drivers that year.
Importantly, ages 16 to 20 includes all people eligible for restricted and full privilege licenses in Texas, but under the legal drinking age.

Most young adults are looking forward to finishing high school and beginning college or a working life. It is a time when knowledge, responsibility, individuality, and freedom are rapidly expanding.
Please, don't make a name for yourself as the person in your neighborhood who died in a drunk driving collision. Reducing yourself to a statistic is just about the least unique and interesting thing you can do with your life.

Although drivers of all ages are involved in alcohol-impaired crashes, young drivers are involved at disproportionately high rates.
According to the NHTSA, drivers under age 21 accounted for 6% of the population of licensed drivers in 2013. These drivers were highly overrepresented among drivers with a 0.08% BAC or higher at the time of a fatal collision: drivers under age 21 accounted for 17% of all alcohol-impaired drivers in fatal collisions. This is almost three times their presence among the overall driving population.
In addition, the Texas Department of Transportation reports that in 2011, drivers under age 21 accounted for almost 9% of all alcohol-related crashes and over 8% of all such crashes that resulted in a fatality.

Despite the fact that drivers age 15 to 20 aren't legally permitted to consume alcohol, they're more likely than any other age group to be under the influence of alcohol at the time of a fatal collision. In addition, traffic collisions are already the leading cause of death for people age 15 to 20 in the U.S., a fact reported by the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics.
Clearly, both traffic collisions in general, and alcohol-impaired driving in particular, present an immense threat to the health of young people in the United States.

But why is drinking such a problem among teens in the United States?
Some teens drink because they want to seem "cool". Some drink because they want to forget about their problems. Others drink to avoid social pressures against nondrinkers.
Teens drink for many reasons, but they are often misguided or pressured into drinking. Before you put any alcohol in your body, understand that you always have a choice. Nobody can force you to drink—you're the only one in control of that.

Many people drink for the wrong reasons, or drink based on a misunderstanding of the drug. Alcohol will not solve your problems. It will only make matters worse.
Alcohol will not make you seem "cool" to anyone. It will cause slurred speech, an inability to form sentences, stumbling, vomiting, and unconsciousness.
Alcohol may make people laugh at you, pity you, or be disgusted by you—but it will certainly not make them think you're cool.

Alcohol doesn't make you forget your problems, either. You're more likely to dwell on sad thoughts when drinking, and you'll have more difficulty than normal thinking of ways to actually solve your problems.
The depressing effects of alcohol persist even when you're done drinking, and can contribute to major depressive disorder. Eventually, there may seem to be no way out at all. Don't doom yourself by making this mistake—don't think for a second that drinking will make you forget your problems.

Finally, drinking alcohol to escape social pressures against nondrinkers is also a harmful mistake. Some people will always pressure you if you're around them—pressure you to drink, to smoke, to drive too fast, or to do any number of other dangerous things.
Giving in to one type of pressure will not help you escape these people. Instead, it will make them pressure you more. Once you show that you are impressionable, people will know that they can influence you. People engaging in dangerous or illegal activity want company, so that their life choices appear more "normal". Don't give in to peer pressure—you'll only expose yourself to increasingly forceful and dangerous influences.

When it comes to road safety, drivers age 15 to 20 are already at a disadvantage for a number of reasons. When alcohol or other drugs are brought into the picture, you can see that young drivers are more in a particularly dangerous position.
A few statistics from the United States in 2013 will help illustrate the involvement of young drivers in fatal collisions.

A total of 863 drivers age 15 to 20 were involved in a fatal collision while they had an illegal BAC of 0.01% or higher. Of these drivers, 492 (57%) were killed. This means that if you kill anyone because you got behind the wheel after drinking, the person you're most likely to kill is yourself.

Among young drivers with a BAC of 0.01% or higher who were involved in fatal crashes, about half were not wearing a seat belt at the time of the collision. Nevertheless, unrestrained drivers represented about two-thirds of these impaired young drivers who died in the crashes they caused.
Moreover, while 22% of all young drivers involved in fatal collisions had a BAC of 0.01% or higher, these drivers were far more likely to be male. 24% of young male drivers who were involved in fatal crashes had been drinking prior to the crash, while only 16% of young female drivers involved in fatal crashes had been drinking.

But what are the factors that put young drivers at a particular disadvantage? To begin with, many young drivers lack driving experience. As a result, they encounter more situations in which they're unsure what the best course of action is. Making the right decision takes longer, and fine control of the vehicle comes less easily.
To help overcome any lack of experience you may have, you must first recognize that you have a deficit. Take your training seriously, and treat every driving experience as a lesson to be learned.

Some young drivers have a greater interest in taking risks. This behavior causes drivers to make more mistakes, needlessly increasing their already serious risk of causing a fatal collision. To help yourself avoid this deadly behavior, remember that you bet your life on the risks you take behind the wheel.

Most young drivers also lack experience in the consumption of alcohol and other drugs. This can make them worse both at predicting future impairment and assessing current impairment. Any amount of impairment makes you unequipped to safely drive a motor vehicle, whether you've suffered a decline in muscle control and vision, or a decline in judgment alone.
The solution to this problem is applicable to drivers of all ages. Never combine driving with alcohol or other drugs, period. If you're going to drive, don't drink. If you're going to drink, find a designated driver or take a taxi.

Finally, young drivers often subject themselves to more distractions than other drivers. These include cell phones, music, friends, and even mental distractions such as anxiety. Distractions take your hands off the steering wheel, your eyes off the road, and your mind off the driving task.
Avoid all distractions not necessary to the driving task. Listen to music only at a level that allows you to hear the noises of the road, and urge your passengers to help you maintain a calm driving environment. Set mental distractions aside, and don't drive if you can't focus.
Above all, never use your cell phone while driving.

Driving while under the influence of alcohol or other drugs will have severe consequences for you personally.
While impaired, you are much more likely to wreck your car and die. If you wreck and survive, you may have to live with brain damage or paralysis for the rest of your life. In addition, you may have to live with the guilt of having killed another human being.

Impaired driving deaths are not a private matter, either. They often end up in the news, or announced at school or work. What's more, if you die on the road, there are a number of people who are forced to handle your corpse.

Police arriving on the scene of the crash will have to look at your body and make a preliminary decision about whether it's possible for you to be resuscitated.
Paramedics and firefighters who arrive later will have to remove your body from the wreckage—including picking up any severed body parts.
If you're not dead yet, you'll be taken to a hospital trauma center, where doctors and nurses will work as hard as they can to save your life.

Once you're dead, a coroner or medical examiner will study your corpse to determine cause of death and test for the presence of alcohol and other drugs.
Your dead body will be stored in a morgue and handled by morgue attendants when a family member comes to identify it.
A mortician will then clean and dress your body, unless it has been too severely dismembered or disfigured.
Finally, there will be a funeral. If your face is still recognizable or can be reconstructed, there may be an open casket. Friends, family, and funeral workers will be present to see your corpse or your coffin.

Before getting behind the wheel when you're impaired, think about how many members of your community will have to see your corpse when you die in a wreck.

Drunk driving has a devastating social impact. Even if you've never known someone who was killed by a drunk driver, every victim has friends, family, and other community members who care about them.
What if a friend of yours died in a drunk driving collision today?

How would you feel hearing the news?
Would you speak about him or her at the funeral?
Would you try to console his or her family?
How would you feel hanging out with your other friends, permanently short one member?

Drunk driving fatalities are particularly devastating to families. Think about your own family: do you consider anyone expendable? Even when family tensions are high, the finality of death makes relatives forgive each other.
The death of one family member will leave a permanent, painful scar in the memory of all surviving members.

Drunk driving carries serious legal consequences. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigations, nearly 1.2 million people were arrested in the U.S. for driving under the influence in 2013. That makes up more than 10% of the total number of arrests made that year.
In Texas alone, almost 80,000 people (about 8% of all arrests) were charged with DUI or DWI in 2012. Of these, 456 were under 18 years old at the time.

If you are lucky enough to survive the wreck you cause by driving drunk, your troubles are far from over. The penalties for DUI and DWI convictions alone are severe. The penalties for DUI manslaughter and vehicular homicide, however, are far worse.
If convicted of manslaughter or homicide, you will be fined up to $10,000 and imprisoned for up to 15 years. If you also leave the scene of the crime, you may be imprisoned for up to 30 years. If you were convicted and sent to prison at age 18, you would remain in jail until age 48.

The total financial cost of a DWI conviction differs from case to case, but it will always be high:

Up to $5,000 in increased insurance rates
Up to $10,000 in fines
As much as $1,500 or more in attorney's fees
$500 or more in court fees, license reinstatement fees, substance abuse assessment and treatment fees, alcohol awareness course fees, etc.

For a grand total of $17,000—not counting any medical expenses or the cost of a new car.

Moreover, your drunk driving collision will cost the city, county, and state a great deal of money. This money will have to come from taxpayers. Sources of these costs include:

Costs of fatalities, including a life of lost productivity
Costs of injuries and medical care
Costs of insurance
Costs of public service announcements
Legal Costs (Courts can't be used for other things)
Travel Delay
Property Damage
Law Enforcement

Ultimately, in a very real sense, everybody in Texas will have to pay for your mistake.

On the following slides you'll see a few good options for getting home safely after drinking. However, there's only one surefire way to bring your chances of causing a drunk driving collision to zero, and it's not complicated: don't drink and drive. That's the simplest, easiest, and surest way to avoid drunk driving.
If you have even a sip of alcohol, don't drive. If you are going to drive, do not have even a sip of alcohol.

If you're out with friends and anyone plans to drink, be sure to choose a designated driver before anyone starts drinking. The designated driver's duty is to get everyone home safely. This means he or she can't have a single sip of alcohol. If you're drinking alone, don't bring a car.
Always choose a designated driver. It's one of the safest and surest ways to avoid drunk driving deaths.

Do not get into a vehicle unless the driver has had nothing at all to drink. If no completely sober driver is available, call your friends and family members until you reach someone who can come pick you up.
Even if they're upset, remember that they'd be much more upset if you killed yourself driving drunk. Whenever you can, call a friend to drive you home safely.