Fatal Error: One for the Road

The New Year begins and all over America people believe that it must be ushered in with a glass or two of some alcoholic beverage.  It has become a part of our culture and even recovering alcoholics want to celebrate with a non-alcoholic beverage that has all the appearance of an alcoholic drink.  It seems that even here we see the strong influence of alcohol and celebration.  Some people believe it's not a celebration if it doesn't include alcohol and others use "celebration" as a means to an even  greater intake of anything alcoholic.

Alcohol has been found to have some benefit, according to recent studies, but the researchers also indicated that meant one or two drinks a day, not one or two an hour.  So, the research doesn't support excessive drinking and, certainly, not binge drinking as we may find on holidays.

As to traffic accidents, we can only estimate the toll that takes on everyone's life; the driver, the victims, everyone's family, the police, insurance rates and even ER personnel.  No one is left unscathed by these accidents.  The group with the highest incidence of driving while drunk and in traffic accidents includes those between the ages of 21-25 where over 27% of them drove drunk.

What do we need to do about this excess and the recklessness that comes with alcohol when driving?  For one thing, alcohol isn't a means to dampen your social anxiety, although we see many people with anxiety or panic disorders drinking to self-medicate.

Just as it takes a village to raise a child, it takes all of us to help potential alcoholics not become full-blown drunk drivers and we need to learn ways to short-circuit the tantrums that come with it.  Take the keys, have a designated driver, or take a taxi. 

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