The Ways Drinking Affects Your Ability To Drive
Drinking and driving put your life as well as all the other lives on the road at risk. In 2015, over 34,000 people died from traffic fatalities. About a third of traffic accidents result from impaired driving. Alcohol affects your mental and physical abilities necessary for driving. Even if a person says they do not feel the effects of alcohol, its consumption impairs the human brain all the same. The effects of drinking on driving are varied but consistent. Here are ways alcohol affects the brain and, in turn, your ability to drive safely.
The Effects of Drinking on Driving: Perception
Alcohol blurs your vision and messes with your depth perception. When you can’t see correctly, you cannot drive safely. A drunk driver cannot control their eye muscles, so they overcompensate by focusing on just one point. Normally, a driver’s eyes scan their surroundings, picking up the subtle changes in surroundings. Additionally, impaired vision lacks depth perception that enables people to accurately measure the distance between their vehicle and others on the road.
The Effects of Drinking on Driving: Tracking
Drunk drivers often veer in and out of their lane, endangering their life and the lives around them. Alcohol makes it harder to track your position on the road. When you drink and drive, you cannot accurately follow the path you take while on the road. The danger intensifies when the conditions for driving are dangerous; for instance, during a storm or high winds.
The Effects of Drinking on Driving: Motor skills
Alcohol diminishes both your fine and gross motor skills. Alcohol compromises your nervous system in various ways that affect your ability to control your movements efficiently. Driving while intoxicated makes it difficult to monitor the vehicle, stop at red lights, and respond to changes on the road in a time efficient manner. Furthermore, an impaired driver can’t respond in time to avoid hitting a car that stops short in front of them.
The Effects of Drinking on Driving: Focus
Drunk people can’t process or interpret their surroundings clearly. Their slowed reaction times make it hard to interpret signals in a quick enough manner. A drunk person doesn’t understand signs correctly. Furthermore, they cannot concentrate on the road. This danger amplifies if there are distractions present in the car. A driver that cannot concentrate cannot control the various aspects of a moving vehicle. They speed, change lanes irrational, and can’t react in time to the motions of other vehicles.
The Effects of Drinking on Driving: Judgment
It’s no surprise impaired drivers often tell their friends they are okay to drive before they get behind the wheel. Judgment is the first thing affected by alcohol. Even a small amount of alcohol changes a person’s ability to make rational decisions. An impaired person may not be able to feel physical effects of alcohol, but it still impairs brain function. Drunk drivers behave erratically and impulsively, which are dangerous ways to be behind the wheel.
Rhode Island DUI Attorney Chad F. Bank
Drinking and driving put everyone on the road at risk. Because drunk driving is so dangerous, cops crack down on drunk driving offenders in cities across the country. If you find yourself facing charges for driving under intoxication, an experienced RI DUI attorney like Rhode Island’s Chad Bank can help. If you have a DUI conviction, call Rhode Island lawyer Chad F. Bank at 401-573-2265.
