Not Every Risk Pays Off

Not every risk pays off

It’s no surprise that drunk driving is never a wise decision, but many times people have the idea in their heads that “it won’t happen to me.” Maybe that’s what Ryan Dunn, star of MTV’s popular show “Jackass” and avid risk-taker, thought as well. But despite all of Dunn’s stunts (from frightening, to funny, to foolish) his life was ended short by a poor decision to get behind the wheel when intoxicated.

Crashes while driving intoxicated can happen to you, your friends and your family. In fact, according to data from a car insurance company, 30 U.S. citizens die every day in car accidents with alcohol-impaired drivers. That’s one death every 48 minutes!

But maybe you don’t drink and drive—you make responsible decisions and want a safer and healthier life for you and your family. That doesn’t mean you are safe from those drivers that do decide to get behind the wheel after drinking. And as a citizen of Wisconsin how safe are you? Wisconsin currently has the worst drunk driving rate in the nation, and in 2009 Wisconsin was ranked the 11^th state in terms of highest percentage of DUI related deaths. And those are just the reported deaths. Think of how many more people get behind the wheel and cause crashes with injuries, or crashes that aren’t even reported.

And then there are those that drink and drive and get away with it—it’s probable that Ryan Dunn had driven drunk more than once. But no one should assume that every time you get behind the wheel you’ll be just as lucky as the last time. Because that’s just what it is—luck. No one is “skilled” or “good at” driving drunk. Each time a person makes the foolish, irresponsible and destructive decision to drive while intoxicated they have an increased chance of causing fatalities or harm to themselves and others as well as legality issues.

Driving while drunk can be heavily attributed to abusive alcohol use which hinders a person’s ability to make wise decisions and furthermore inhibits their ability to drive. Health First wants a healthier Wisconsin, a safer Wisconsin for families. In order to do so, we need to move towards reducing alcohol abuse so that people are able to make good decisions while still enjoying non-risky drinking behavior. This will lead to things like less money being put towards law enforcement pursuing alcohol-related crimes, including cracking down on drunk driving. What’s more, it will save lives.

If you would like more resources on how to prevent alcohol abuse, please visit our webpage at: http://www.healthfirstwi.org/alcohol/resources.php.

Stay safe and make positive choices!