SIRS Issues Researcher
Essential Question: Should tougher DUI laws be enacted?
SIRS Leading Issue: Drunk Driving
Summary: Let's Stop Drunk Driving—December is Alcohol & Drug Abuse Awareness Month and also Preventing Drunk Driving Month. How big is the problem of driving drunk? Every day, 36 people in the United States die, and approximately 700 more are injured, in motor vehicle crashes involving an alcohol-impaired driver.
The annual cost of alcohol-related crashes totals more than $51 billion and accounts for nearly one-third (32%) of all traffic-related deaths in the United States. In 2007, over 1.4 million drivers were arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol or narcotics, not including the 159 million self-reported episodes of alcohol-impaired driving among U.S. adults each year.
Who is at risk? Male drivers involved in fatal motor vehicle crashes are almost twice as likely as female drivers to be intoxicated. All states have laws that define drunk driving as any person a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of .08%+. Younger people (and especially those between the ages of 16 and 20) are more likely than older people to drive drunk and be involved in an accident.
How can deaths and injuries from impaired driving be prevented? Effective measures include:
Aggressively enforcing existing 0.08% BAC laws.
Minimum legal drinking age laws.
Zero tolerance laws for drivers younger than 21 years old in all states.
Promptly revoking the driver's licenses of people who drive while intoxicated.
Implementing mandatory counseling and safety courses for those who are convicted.
Utilizing sobriety checkpoints.
Installing devices in cars that require breathalyzer checks to start the car.
Organizing volunteers who don't drink at parties to be designated drivers for those who do.
Implementing health education initiatives in the secondary curriculum.
Learning Activity
Assign students explore the Pro or Con side of Drunk Driving debate.
Pathfinder
Click SIRS Issues Researcher link > Visual Browse > Drugs, Health, and Wellness > Alcohol Use > Drunk Driving
Students should address the essential question for critical thinking included with this issue and cite at least three resources. Reports should be at least 150 words, and presentations at least seven slides.
Consider the following questions when conducting research:
Should states adopt stricter penalties for drivers who refuse to take a BAC test? Why or why not?
Should laws be enacted that require ignition-interlock devices for all convicted drunk drivers, including first-time offenders? Why or why not?
Do you think DUI checkpoints should be used more often and in more places? Explain.
Describe other measures you think could be implemented to reduce drunk driving.
SIRS Issues Researcher provides students with many tools that help organize their resources, help develop critical thinking, and a variety of models to present their Pro or Con reasoned conclusions:
Gathering Information: Click the Timelines and Statistics icons to get a data perspective on this issue.
Organizing Information: Click the Notes Organizer icon.
Synthesizing Information using Report/Presentation Models: Click the Research Guides icon within each issue—Research Guide for Critical Thinking; Writing a Mini-Research Paper; Creating a PowerPoint Presentation; Organizing a Class Mini-Debate.
Developing Critical Thinking Skills: Click within the Research Guides option > iThink - 21st Century Skills Tutor—An engaging interactive tutorial with built in instruction, assessment and critical thinking prompts.
iThink is also available to all ProQuest users on our support website.
SIRS Leading Issue: Drunk Driving
