While driving any type of motorized vehicle, it is vital to consider the safety of any and all passengers in the vehicle. Many accidents that happen along the United States roadways are cuased by drivers who neglect simple safety measures and disobey laws that were put into place for a reason. Driving Drunk is one such occurrence that has numerous laws backing its enforcement. Individuals who drink and drive are not only putting themselves and their passengers into immediate danger, but also endangering anyone else on the road with them. According to the United States Department of Transportation, drunk driving incidents cause fatalities roughly every 31 minutes and injuries every two minutes.

If you think those numbers are a bit too high, take a look at another cold hard fact. In 2005 alone over 254,000 people were injured from car accidents with alcohol involved. Nearly 17,000 more individuals were killed by these same types of accidents.

In today's legislature, even more laws are being written to help take drunk drivers off of the road with hefty penalties. One of the most recent of these laws was the Administrative License Revocation Law that allowed for license suspension immediately following a refusal to take a breathalyzer test by a suspect drunk driver on the side of the road. In the event of this situation, the individual would be temporarily taken to the police station and given another chance to submit a breathalyzer test to see if he/she is in fact legally under the influence. If the individual does not comply, other means of extracting this information is possible such as urine tests and blood tests.

In a more aggressive fashion, laws have been passed in the state of California that place businesses partially responsible for damages that any of their customers may have part in from purchasing or consuming alcohol beverages at the establishment. Nonetheless, these laws are having a relatively low impact on the majority of offenders. In the past fifteen years, there have been more repeated violators than ever before.

If anything, these laws and legislative actions are helping to spread the word about the extensive consequences that an individual will go through if they are caught drinking and driving. Not only could your license be suspended, but you could serve jail time, serve hundreds of hours of community service, pay thousands of dollars in court fees, and even begin an unwanted criminal history that future employers can look up at any time.

Drivers are being urged not to drink and drive. Statistically it is the leading cause of deaths along the road ways in the United States. Calling a cab, having someone you know pick you up, or sleeping wherever you were drinking are all not only smart decisions, but could prove extremely less costly in the end.

Drunk driving not only kills, it can change your life forever. Just take a moment and think of quick your life can change with one stupid decision to drink and take the wheel. If you don't think you can drive responsibily, hand over the keys or take the taxi.