There are a lot of programs lately trying to prevent the driving under alcohol and/or drug influence, most famous being “Mothers Against Drunken Driving”, (MADD) and “Bus Drivers Against Drunken Driving”, (BDADD or BADD). The so called “social pressure” seems to be very efficient and this is the proof that education is always an answer to the major problems of humanity. Another program which is extremely efficient is the “Designated Driver Program”. Their main action is to recruit volunteers to be designated drivers.

Another idea vehiculated is to apply graduated penalties for driving with higher BACs, that means that faster speeders should get higher speeding fines and higher BACs should get higher penalties. Drivers with blood alcohol contents of .20 are hundreds of times more dangerous than those with only .02 and should receive much higher penalties.

There are a lot of things to do in this social pressure activity. Prospective drivers should be taught adequate information on alcohol and driving and they should be tested on this material on their driver’s exams. It’s important to realize that inexperienced drinkers become intoxicated with much less alcohol than do experienced drinkers and are much more likely to have traffic accidents after consuming small amounts of alcohol. Even a single drink dramatically increases the chances that a teen-aged driver will have a driving accident.

Illegal drugs are also involved in a large proportion of driving accidents, injuries and deaths. Marijuana and other drugs reduce coordination, reaction time, and other abilities required to drive safely. In the case of marijuana, for instance, this impairment lasts as long as 24 hours after smoking just one joint. As many as nearly 40% of injured drivers have tested positive for marijuana and the proportion is probably much higher for young drivers. Police almost never test for illegal drug use and many accidents blamed on alcohol are actually caused by illicit drugs.

Remember: don’t drive when fatigued. The dangers posed when fatigued are similar to those when intoxicated. Drunk or fatigued drivers both have slowed reactions and impaired judgment. Don’t use a car phone, apply make-up, comb your hair, or eat while driving. Drivers using car phones have about the same chance of having an accident as driving drunk! And hands-free cell phones are just as dangerous to use while driving. Avoid driving late on weekends. Alcohol-related driving accidents are much more likely to occur at night and on weekends.

We strongly recommend to everyone reading this article to stay out of alcohol abuse, however, if you or someone close to you have problems with alcohol addiction and need an alcohol rehab, we suggest you to visit Drug Rehabilitation center