Drunk driving is one of the most well-established dangerous driving behaviors. Studies and statistics from across the country prove over and over again exactly how dangerous it is.
So why do these incidents keep happening? In spite of overwhelming evidence proving how dangerous drunk driving is, why do people still risk it?
Negative influence from peers
The NHTSA discusses the reckless act of drunk driving, which persists to this day despite obvious proof of how dangerous it is.
They examined different factors that lead to the decision to drive drunk. Some of this boils down to the crowd a person spends their time with. Some groups of people simply do not think of drunk driving as anything too serious. Perhaps they have driven drunk before and made it home safely, or maybe they simply do not view driving while tipsy as a risk.
Impaired sense of judgment
These people may then encourage their friends to drive while tipsy or even drunk, perpetuating the cycle. Of course, liquor and alcohol impair a person’s sense of judgment, too. This means they are more likely to listen to bad advice or make poor decisions than they would when sober.
Other factors include how much a person drank, the sort of environment they drank at, how they got to the event, how they planned to get home, and if they had options to stay over at the place they drank or not.
This spur-of-the-moment decision, unfortunately, leads to deaths every year due to many people thinking that their attempt to drive home intoxicated will not end in tragedy.