StayWell Guam Inc.

You Don’t Have to Be Drunk to Drive Impaired

You don’t have to be drinking to be driving impaired and you should remember that drinking any amounts of alcohol, taking drugs, and even taking your prescription medications that are known to cause drowsiness or other side effects can count as impaired driving. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration puts it like this: any impairment to your normal bodily function while driving can count as impaired driving and, in some states, and jurisdictions this neglectfulness can mean big fines and in worst cases tremendous regrets. It’s important to remember that driving is not a right, it’s a privilege and all drivers should remind themselves of this each and every time they enter a vehicle to drive. This is an especially important fact when you consider that despite the illegality to drive drunk, one person was killed every 45 minutes in a drunk driving crash throughout the nation in 2020. Of these 229 children aged 14 years old and younger were killed. That’s more than one in every five children who died in traffic crashes that year.

Can You Afford It?

If these facts from the NHTSA aren’t enough to scare you, perhaps consider the absolutely devastating costs of driving while impaired. According to the NHTSA drunk drivers face jail time when they’re caught and on average a DUI can cost up to $10,000 in attorney’s fees, fines, court costs, lost time at work, higher insurance rates, car towing, and more. And if you enjoy driving, consider these privileges taken away should you be the perpetrator of an impaired driving accident.

Buzzed Driving is Drunk Driving

In Guam alone, there have been 2-5 alcohol impaired fatalities each year since 2015. Although the numbers may not seem so bad, we can’t forget that these are human lives we are talking about. There really is no excusing the loss of a brother, a sister, a mother, a father or a friend to alcohol impaired driving. Even a small amount of alcohol can affect your driving ability and so if you’re planning on attending any event where you know that alcohol will be involved it isn’t all too unreasonable to make a plan for going to and from place-to-place before heading out for a night on the town. So, let’s all do our part to keep our community safe by making a plan to have a designated driver, taxi service or ride-hailing service so that everyone gets home safely.

For more tips on travelling safely on the roads this holiday season be sure to check out the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration website.