“Drunk Driving” is an article written by Bonnie Steinbeck. Within her article, she analyses a wide variety of court rulings and legal precedent to defend the idea that if a person kills another person while drunk driving, that they ought to be charged with murder. Throughout her article, Dr. Steinbock analyses three major concepts in her argument. The first concept, that drunk driving constitutes malice, is one of the core facts needed to be considered murder. Second, she explores how intoxication can affect both liability and culpability within the legal system. Lastly, Dr. Steinbock analyses different methods of deterring drunk drivers. Dr. Steinbock begins by discussing whether or not drunk drivers display malice. The importance of this can be best explained by the need for malicious intent for a killing to turn into a murder. Dr. Steinbock claims that “The mens rea required for murder is the intent to cause death”, and so many people argue that drunk drivers do not commit murder, as they may not mean to kill those they hit. However, Dr. Steinbock asserts …show more content…
While most people certainly agree that drunk drivers who kill people are bad people, her tone at times loses that professional impersonal voice that many scholarly articles are written. At one point, she compares the act of drunk driving itself to someone who “gets drunk regularly and beats up his wife every time”. She also ends one of her sections with the sentiment that “I feel very little inclination to excuse the chronic alcoholic who drives to a bar, gets loaded, and kills a child standing on the sidewalk.” These statements while agreeable to most people and an effective form of emotional appeal, do remove a bit of credence from the article. These passages rely on disturbing and upsetting the reader, rather than convincing them and represent a jarring change in
Associations like MADD speak about how the higher MLDA has made the roads safer, but they refuse to admit that it is not the only reason. Before the raising of the MLDA there was a statistic recorded, “Rate of accident and fatalities in the 1980’s decreased less than that of European countries whose legal drinking ages are lower than 21,”( “Drinking Age”). Previously, before the MLDA was raised, traffic incidents relating to alcohol were very scarce; America was a safe place to drive. One factor often forgotten is that, some people are irresponsible and develop bad habits. Therefore someone will always fail to abide by the rules.
Easterbrook explains why the program of road fatalities is being ignored by society (1). According to Gregg Easterbrook’s article, “Road Kill”, he writes that “the first fundamental difference between harm because of accidents and harm because of deliberate action; the second, society’s strange assumption that traffic fatalities cannot be avoided” (1). He writes that, because, unlike terrorism, car crashes were planned to cause harm. Easterbrook writes that
Driving while Stupid A lot of us have seen terrible drivers where we live and probably believe that it couldn’t be worse anywhere else when it came to stupid drivers, Dave Berry argues otherwise. He states in the first paragraph of this excerpt that “I-95 in downtown Miami, proud home of the worst darned drivers in the world” (Berry 571). Dave then goes on to argue why he thinks these people are the worst drivers in the world. He starts by stating that he has ‘driven in every major U.S. city, including Boston, where the motorists all drive as though there us an open drawbridge just ahead, and they need to gain speed so they can jump across it” (Berry 571).
Drinking while Driving Brad Bulla article “What are the Chances your Child will Ride in the Car with a Drinking Driver” explains how his son, Jedidiah, died. He tells his story of how his son died when Jedidiah went into a car with a friend of his that had been drinking while driving. Jedidiah had many aspirations of what he envisioned himself as after his final year of high school, but he could not reach his aspirations because of the poor decision that he made; his decision of riding with a driver who had been drunk. Jedidiah wanted the driver to quit drinking but the driver did not stop drinking, so Jedidiah took over the car which ended up killing him while the driver that drunk had survived. Brad Bulla incorporates different studies and statistics
To many people who have not had a personal encounter with drunk drivers, the issue may not hit as hard as people who have had an encounter. Drinking and driving occurs way too frequently and without proper legislations regulating the issue, the general public suffers from the consequences of one’s negligent and selfish act: to drink and drive. The .08 Per Se Law raises a number of questions and arguments, particularly focusing on its effectiveness and purposes. Questions and arguments include whether the policy criminalizes the act of social drinking, whether the policy targets the real problem, the effects the policy has on the criminal justice system and the economy, and lastly, whether the policy saves lives. In conclusion, the policy
Personally, I feel that Kathleen Flaherty White should never be allowed behind the wheel of a semi ever again. It was her decision, and her decision alone, to choose to drink and drive. In my opinion, this type of action is the reason that truck drivers get such a bad name; acts like this, from selfish people who only think of themselves. I also strongly think that she needs to be in a rehab program; anyone who chooses to get behind the wheel of an 80,000 pound truck while intoxicated and not caring about what could happen to innocent bystanders or even her own wellbeing, needs to seek professional help with their addiction.
Being faced with a criminal charge like driving under the influence can be extremely troubling. In addition to costly fines and penalties, those charged also run the risk of losing their licenses and possible jail time. A skilled DUI attorney is vital to mitigating the ill-effects of a drunk driving charge, which is why James F. Bogen, Attorney at Law remains a vital resource to clients all over Cincinnati. Experience is an important part of securing a reliable criminal attorney. To this end, James F. Bogen affords over ten years of experience in the field, including numerous cases involving driving under the influence.
On May 3, 1980, Cari Lightner was struck and killed by a drunk driver in Fair Oaks, California (Mothers Against Drunk Driving, History, n.d.). The driver had recently been arrested for Driving Under the Influence hit-and-run and left Cari’s body at the scene (Mothers Against Drunk Driving, History, n.d.). Cari’s mother, Candace formed Mothers Against Drunk Driving because of that incident. In 1984, the National Minimum Drinking Age Act was implemented in the United States that imposed a federal penalty for states that did not raise the minimum legal drinking age to 21 for purchase and possession of alcohol (Mothers Against Drunk Driving, History, n.d.). This made a radical change to the United States as how we see it now.
Informative Speech Outline: Driving while Intoxicated Specific Purpose Statement: To inform my audience the dangers of drinking and driving, and how it can affect you and your surroundings. Central Idea: Drinking and driving is extremely dangerous: you are at risk of hurting yourself, become a threat to others around you, you can get into some legal issues if you are stopped by a police officer. Introduction: It’s a Friday!
However, “90% of drunk driving deaths in the United States were found in the over 21 age group” (Gruenewald). For this reason, drunk driving is not directly correlated with the drinking age. In addition, the percent of drunk driving deaths in the United States has reduced at a slower rate than European countries where they have their legal drinking age at eighteen. This suggest that if lowering the drinking age was a success in Europe, it may also be effective here in the United States to diminish the amount of drunk driving deaths. This is because people that become injured due to alcohol or alcohol poisoning are afraid to report their injuries to the hospital or authorities out of fear of illegal consequences for underage drinking.
DUI By:Jaskaran You’re outside with your friends having fun and drinking, but its time to go home. You crashed your car because you were drunk and you just killed some innocent pedestrian also now have to pay for your car and go to jail. This is drinking and driving and I am here to tell you why it is bad and you should stop.
Americans know the dangers of getting behind the wheel while intoxicated. When alcohol enters the human body it impairs your judgement. Your speech begins to slur, the overall control you have on your body vanish because your balance and flow are altered by the alcohol entering your bloodstream. But yet the court systems lets them off with a simple slap on the wrist , like a mother to a child. What happens when that “first time offender” , loses their sense of knowledge of how to drive a car.
Drunk driving is a serious problem that continues to take thousands of deaths each year. Too many innocent lives been lost to drunk driving. A death from drunk driving does not only affect the victim but it affects everyone around them such as family and friends. One night, one drink, one mistake is all it takes for drunk driving to take its toll. There are many solutions to prevent drunk driving, but they will only work if we put them into play.
About 5,000 people under the age of 21 die each year as a result of underage drinking, 1,900 of those deaths are from auto accidents. About one in three high school students has been a passenger in a car driven by someone who had consumed alcohol. Alcohol is involved in 31% of teenage car accident fatalities. Let me introduce myself, hi my name is Aj and I am not here to talk to you about why drunk driving is bad, you already know that. I am going to show how it is bad.
Once drunk driving can come to an end, more people will feel safer to drive everyday. Drunk driving causes thousands of deaths per year because each day, someone does not think as they step on the gas pedal. Driving while intoxicated causes problems that not only affect the victim lives, but the future of the drunk driver’s life as well. Drunk driving was the main cause in the death of one of the world 's most famous and beloved people in 1997.