| Drunken driving—sometimes called
America's socially accepted form of murder—as become a national epidemic. Every
hour of every day about three Americans on average are killed by drunken
drivers, adding up to an incredible 250,000 over the past decade.
A drunken driver is usually defined as one with a 0.10 blood alcohol content or
roughly three beers, glasses of wine or several small glasses of whisky drunk
within two hours. Heavy drinking used to be an acceptable part of the American
manly image mid judges were not severe in most courts, but the deaths caused by
drunken driving have recently caused so many well-publicized tragedies,
especially involving young children, that public opinion is no longer so
tolerant. Twenty states have raised the legal drinking age to 21, changing a trend in the 1960s to reduce it to 18. After New Jersey lowered it to 18,the number of people killed by 18-20 year-old drivers more than doubled, so the state recently upped it back to 21. Reformers, however, fear that raising the drinking age will have little effect unless accompanied by educational programs to help young people to develop" responsible attitudes" about drinking and teach them to resist peer pressure to drink. Tough new laws have led to increased arrests and tests and, in many areas already, to a marked decline in number of death. Some states are also punishing bars for serving customers too many drinks. A bar or pub in Massachusetts was fined for serving six or more brandies to a customer who was" obviously drunk" and later drove off the road, killing a nine-year-old boy. As the deaths caused by accidents continue to occur daily in every state, some Americans are even beginning to speak well of the 13 years of national prohibition of alcohol that began in 1919, what President Hoover called the" noble experiment". They forget that legal prohibition didn't stop drinking, but encouraged political corruption and organized crime. As the drug trade is increasing generally, there is no easy solution. |