Few individuals truly understand the full and damaging effects of alcohol abuse, and many may believe that it is honestly quite safe to consume moderate amounts of alcohol and then proceed to do things they’d normally do. Many individuals even believe that it is perfectly safe to drive a motor vehicle after consuming some alcohol. However, the truth is that the sedative effects of alcohol consumption can come on gradually and subtly, which is one of the primary reasons for why it is so dangerous – the individual himself is somewhat oblivious to its true nature. However, as much as an individual may believe that they are able to operate normally after alcohol consumption, getting behind the wheel while under the influence of alcohol can prove to be far more challenging than the individual recognizes. Airmen from the Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma recently discovered this for themselves.
Go-Kart Challenge
In the state of Oklahoma, driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs will cost a first-time offender between ten and fourteen thousand dollars. This includes roughly four hundred dollars to have one’s car towed and impounded, roughly three thousand dollars for incarceration and bond charges with a medical screening, and up to one thousand one hundred dollars for attorney fees, a hearing, driver’s license reinstatement fees and more. However, this estimate does not take into account the average fee for an attorney’s services to aid this whole process – which could be anywhere from five hundred to eight thousand five hundred dollars – and it does not include an ignition interlock device, which is essentially a breathalyzer test installed in the vehicle with the intention of preventing an individual from drinking and driving. In a recent presentation, Airmen from the 34th Combat Communications Squadron of the Tinker Air Force Base were presented with a single question: could they afford this high expense of drinking and driving?
Sergeant Jason Yingling from the Oklahoma County Highway Safety Office spoke with around seventy-five Airmen about the dangers of alcohol-impaired driving before allowing several of them to experience it first-hand through the use of impaired vision goggles while operating a remote-controlled go-kart on a small course. Yingling told Airmen that Oklahoma is one of the few states in the country where it is actually less expensive to murder another individual in cold blood than it is to get a DUI. He pointed out to the Airmen that a single DUI could ruin their life by destroying their career and creating a financial problem so huge that they’d be dealing with it long into the future.
Yingling pointed out that due to his training in the telltale signs of intoxication, he has a one hundred percent conviction rate, which is not something anyone should want to try and mess with. Some of the telltale signs a police officer will look for include the smell of alcohol on the individual’s breath and clothes and the individual’s inability to pass the horizontal gaze nystagmus test, a test that has the individual follow the line of a pen or flashlight in order to determine if they have the involuntary eye muscle movement (bouncing) that occurs when someone is intoxicated. Police officers may also speak at length with the individual in order to detect other signs of intoxication, signs that the individual may believe they are hiding quite well but that are actually quite clear to a sober police officer.
The Other Costs of Alcohol-Impaired Driving
In 2011, Oklahoma initiated the Erin Swezey Act after Oklahoma State University sophomore Erin Swezey was killed in a head-on collision with a vehicle operated by a drunken driver. At the time of the crash, the drunken driver had a blood alcohol content of .29, more than three times the legal limit, and was traveling in the wrong direction on the road. His driver’s license had been revoked six times over the course of eight years, and yet he still managed to get behind the wheel of his vehicle once again, costing a young woman her life. In an effort to prevent similar tragedies from occurring again in the future, the Erin Swezey Act mandates that at the time when a driver has his license reinstated following a DUI conviction, he must have an ignition interlock device installed in his vehicle. Driver’s must purchase this device, which costs roughly two thousand five hundred dollars, and keep it in their vehicle for at least eighteen months. The device is calibrated to suit a specific driver, and requires that the driver blow into the apparatus to determine whether they are safe to drive.
One individual who participated in the go-kart challenge indicated that the impaired vision goggles made it quite difficult to operate the vehicle – even in a controlled environment – and he cannot see how anyone who is driving under the influence can do so without killing others. Another individual agreed, stating that the go-kart challenge is a valuable teaching tool simply because it confirms how very little an individual would have to drink in order to be impaired – and that the biggest dangers aren’t for the individual himself, but for others around him.
Sergeant Yingling closed the challenge by reiterating that it was important to decide if driving under the influence was truly worth it, especially when calling a taxi service or a friend could reduce the costs dramatically – both to one’s wallet and society.
