Dear Senator John McCain:

Recently there has been a chain of events linked with drunk driving. A trusted member of the school faculty where I attend was caught driving drunk. Needless to say, he was fired. But due to these actions, it has raised some thoughts in my mind. No one was hurt but what if an innocent person had been injured? We all hear the stories of drunk drivers, but how many of us actually listen? I think that drunk drivers should be punished more severely because when they drive under the influence, it not only endangers their safety, but the well being of others around them as well.

In 2006 alone, 16,005 people were killed by drunken driving car accidents, according to Alcohol Alert. That is 16,005 people who were most likely innocent and were just in the wrong place at the horribly wrong time.

Nighttime seems to be when most of these accidents occur, because that is when most people get drunk. According to Alcohol Alert, the rate of alcohol impairment among drivers involved in fatal car crashes is four times higher at night than during the day. Say you were in a car at night, coming home from a long day at work, and all of a sudden you see headlights coming your way faster than they should be. In this scenario, the person is just an innocent person on their way home from work, and they are caught in a situation which is becoming far more common. To help out these odds, I think that there should be a way for the drunk driver to be driven home. If they are with friends then the bartender, or whoever is in charge should ask if they have a safe way to get home.

My sister Leah went to college at Ball State University. There were police shootings of a student a while ago at night because the officer thought that the student was coming at him. In Muncie, IN some students or people who attend the bars are scared that they might get hurt. They drive home impaired because they think that is safer than walking home and risked being shot. This is a horrible safety precaution because it isn’t really safe for either party. The driver has a risk of crashing and getting hurt, as well as whoever that driver could potentially crash into. Some bars have a limit to the amount of drinks a person can have, and I think this would be good to uphold in all the bars.

Some people may say that drunk driving is practicing their freedom of choice. It’s like the saying, “His rights end where my nose begins.” As long as you aren’t hurting anyone, then feel free to practice whatever rights you want to. But driving under the influence is not safe for others. Your freedom of driving drunk ends when you put another person in danger.

Solutions to this problem could be thought out. Besides having the bars have a limit of alcohol intake, there should be more that could be done. Stricter DUI laws should be enforced, because if people knew what the consequences of their actions were, maybe they would be less likely to do them.

Drunk drivers endanger not only themselves, but the people surrounding them, including the passengers inside the car. They should try to be decreased in number as much as possible because some feel that their personal safety is on the line. It’s not about their right to drive home; it’s about citizens’ right to be safe. By offering safe ways to get home and having stricter DUI laws, America’s roads could become safer. A citizen’s right to be out of harm's way on the road begins with change. The government can help this to happen quickly.