It may come as a surprise given the volume of public service messages and law enforcement efforts, but many Americans seem to be still willing to get behind the wheel even if means engaging in drunk driving.
According to a recent survey, 43% of those asked self-reported that they had driven under the influence of alcohol at some point in their driving careers. Moreover, 28% admitted to doing so recently, within the last 6 months.
Generationally, members of Generation Z, today’s young adults, were most likely to have recently driven under the influence, with 89% admitting to doing so within the previous 12 months. This is especially concerning since many members of Generation Z are legally too young to drink alcohol.
There is no good excuse for drunk driving
The people surveyed gave a number of excuses for why they chose to drink and drive.
The most common reasons were that people did not have far to travel or that they honestly thought that they were not too drunk to drive.
With respect to the latter excuse, many people to overestimate how many drinks they can have and still be able to safely drive a vehicle.
But in any event, there simply is no good excuse for getting behind the wheel while legally drunk.
Although, thankfully, not every bad decision ends in a serious drunk driving accident, too many stupid mistakes in the eateries and homes of New Orleans do lead to fatal and serious injury accidents.
Louisiana victims of drunk drivers may have legal options available to them. They may be able to receive compensation for their losses.