4 Ways Alcohol Impairs Your Ability to Drive

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Many potential dangers can take place while someone is driving. In fact, statistics from 2015 found that 32,166 motor vehicle accidents took place in the United States where the outcome was fatal. Many fatal collisions are often the result of someone driving a motor vehicle while being drunk. In fact, statistics from 2015 reported that nearly 1.1 million drivers were placed under arrest for driving under the influence of either alcohol or narcotics. It’s imperative to understand how alcohol can drastically change the way you behave, especially while operating an automobile. With that in mind, here are four ways alcohol impairs someone’s ability to operate a motor vehicle.

  1. Impaired Coordination Issues

    While driving a vehicle, proper coordination is of the utmost importance. In many cases, driving means making fast decisions that often involve more than one part of your body. This means your hands are in charge of steering while your feet are operating between the gas and brake pedals. Unfortunately, drunk driving drastically impairs your ability to coordinate multiple body parts in a fast and efficient manner. In turn, drunk driving can cause someone to crash their vehicle based on their coordination becoming far too impaired.
  2. Blurred Vision

    The amount of alcohol a driver consumes can dramatically increase certain effects. For example, someone who has drunk one beer might not be nearly as impaired as someone who has consumed multiple alcoholic beverages. With that in mind, a side effect of consuming alcohol is often impaired or blurred vision. In turn, the act of drunk driving often leads to the impaired individual being unable to see objects properly.
  3. Altered Ability to Concentrate

    Driving a motor vehicle takes a lot of concentration. In many cases, you’ll need to be aware of other drivers, following directional signs, and weather conditions. Someone who has consumed alcohol before or while operating a vehicle is often not thinking similarly to a sober driver. With that in mind, it’s likely that a drunk driver will have a great deal of focus and could be extremely drowsy. While drugs other than alcohol are involved in nearly 16% of automobile collisions, it’s safe to say that drunk driving is still a major problem on roads across the United States.
  4. Increased Irrational Thoughts

    With certain individuals, consuming alcohol can sometimes give these people a false sense of bravado. Considering that, those consuming alcohol often think that they’re in far better shape to drive than they really are. This false sense of confidence is often a major contributor to the large number of wrecks that occur involving instances of drunk driving.

To summarize, alcohol is extremely dangerous for someone to consume while driving. Considering that, many personal injury law firms have taken on cases where drunk driving was the cause of a crash. It’s wise to contact a car accident attorney if you’ve been the victim of a drunk driver. Consuming alcohol can severely impact one’s ability to stay coordinated. In certain situations, alcohol can also impair the vision of a drunk driver. Alcohol takes over the way someone thinks, decreasing cognitive abilities while giving someone false confidence that often winds up making them dangerous drivers to be around.

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