How Is the Government Helping Reduce Drunk Drivers on the Road?

How many people a day do you think drive drunk in the United States alone? Is it 100, 500, 1,000 or more? We may not have an exact statistic from that but you could gain the idea by knowing that almost half of all driving accidents involved alcohol. With over 37,000 people who died in car accidents in 2008 that number is still to high to grasp onto. That is why we need to look to our government to try and see what they are doing to help combat this problem. One of these ways has just recently been passed into law and implemented in California.

California alone has almost 1,500 fatalities a year from people driving drunk. That comes out to about 4 people a day die from the result of a drunk driver in the state of California alone. That is why with the help of Gov. Schwarzenegger and the MADD organization and others they have helped pass a law that puts alcohol breathalyzer testers into vehicles for first time DUI offenders.

This is a huge step towards the goal of keeping more people who drive drunk off the road. With these breath analyzers in place they can monitor the offenders more closely and keep track of their drinking record to show to the courts how they handle themselves.

One of the speakers at the press conference after this bill was passed was Mary Klotzbach a California resident and also the State Public Policy Committee Chair for the MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) organization. She lost her son from a drunken driving accident and has been an advocate ever since to help stop this epidemic by using the technology of alcohol breathalyzers and this bill was a step in the right direction. So when you think about how using these breath analyzer devices on a daily basis for those who have the potential of going out and driving after they drink, you can see how this keeps a lot of danger off of the roadways and saves lives.

Many states should use California as a example to help step up their policies and procedures for dealing with first time DUI offenders and how they punish them. Many states may reconsider the effects of putting an alcohol breathalyzer into a vehicle once they see the benefits California is getting. Otherwise many people can still help themselves by just purchasing a handheld breath analyzer online to keep track of their Blood alcohol concentration (BAC) before they even get into the vehicle.