Zubin de Miranda
In the light of the recent accident at Siolim-Chopdem bridge, I want to highlight the problem of drinking and driving. It is one of the most dangerous things in every alcohol consumer’s life not only for themselves but for others around too. Many of us don’t know the actual impact of this worst activity. After we have an amount of alcohol, we think ourselves as a king. This kind of thinking is the great route for our major disaster. None of the countries in the world allow their people to drive any vehicle when they consume alcohol. But many people never care about this useful law, so that is the reason why there are many fatal accidents happening every day.
Basically drunk and drive accidents happen in all countries around the world, but these accidents mostly happen in Asian countries like India, Sri Lanka.
First of all, we have to get to know how alcohol affects a human body. Whenever you consume alcohol, it slows down the central nervous system function which simply means your brain start functioning very slowly than at the normal time. The amount of slowdown depends on how much of alcohol you intake. A driver with the blood alcohol concentration of 0.10 or greater is 7 times more likely to be involved in an accident.
Likewise, a driver with 0.15 or greater is 25 times more likely to be involved in a fatal accident. But the funny part is, the more you consume alcohol the more you think that you are steady. Some people say, “What’s the harm, I got home safely without harming other people”. Just because you made it home safely to your bed, doesn’t mean that you made a right decision. When you are driving a vehicle with alcohol consumption, you are not only putting your life at risk but also you are risking the lives of all other people who come across while you are driving.
Safe driving requires alertness and the ability to make quick decisions in any situation. But how could you make a quick decision if the brain is functioning slowly? When you are driving a vehicle you use your eyes, hands, and feet for controlling the vehicle. But all these are controlled by the brain. So once your brain starts working slowly, every other part of your body would affect and function in a wrong way. This is why accidents happen.
Drinking alcohol could affect your driving in following ways:
1 – Reduce reaction time: Since the alcohol directly affects the brain function, it reduces your reaction time. In a sudden situation, you must have to react in 1 or 2 seconds. But with the alcohol consumption, you may need more time to react.
2 – Poor vision: Alcohol has the ability to slow down the function of eye muscle which possibly results in blurred vision. The eye vision may go worst in the night time than during the day. So, it’s better to avoid driving at any time after you consume even a small amount of alcohol.
3 – Tracking: Alcohol does not allow you to keep the vehicle on a right track. It decreases the ability to judge the vehicle’s position on the road. Also, with the alcohol consumption, you may feel hard to find the road signs and directions.
4 – Coordination: For a better drive, the coordination between eyes, hands, and feet are very important. But alcohol won’t allow you to coordinate each other which may push yourself into a dangerous accident.
5 – Impatient: As a good driver, you must have good patience in all situations. But drinking alcohol changes your level of patience and makes your driving inappropriate. You may get angry with other road drivers and drive an unwanted race with them.
6 – Feeling relaxed: Alcohol makes you feel more relaxed and drowsy, which may cause a driver to fall asleep at the steering wheel.
So what are the best ways to prevent drinking and driving?
1 – Keep track: It’s better to completely avoid drinking alcohol before driving a vehicle. But, if you really want to have some alcohol, keep tracking of how much you drink. You need to drink less to keep your blood alcohol concentration under 0.05 which is not much harm to your driving.
2 – Limit your drinking: Try to have a non-alcoholic drink at first and then you can have a small shot of alcohol if you want. Also, try to avoid topping up your glass. The best way to avoid topping up your glass is, intake your first glass very slowly. Spend your time by talking with other people. Try to take low alcoholic drinks like wine or champagne instead of whiskey and brandy. Also, avoid salty snacks which increase thirst.
3 – Wait until your blood alcohol concentration goes low: Basically, blood alcohol concentration can continue to rise up to 3 or 4 hours after the last drink you take. So it’s very important to take the driver seat only after at least 4 hours from your last glass of drink.
4 – Eat well enough: It is advisable that you have to eat well enough after you drink alcohol. Choose and eat more milk rich products like chocolates, cheese or whole milk. This would reduce your blood alcohol concentration little faster.
5 – Alternate way: This is the best way to return to your home after a good party. Always arrange an alternate way to go back to home. You may ask any of your relatives to pick you up or you can call up for a taxi and go home.
Being the cheapest State in India for alcohol and fuel, domestic tourists come to Goa to have fun and think of Goa as a place where they can do anything and everything they wish legal or illegal. In addition to solving this problem, we need a better police force to check on vehicles especially the ones coming from out of state. This is not the Goa that I was born and brought up in, if we do not act now and make changes it will be too late to do so later. Too many lives have already been lost.
