Wow, what a great New Year’s party in Los Angeles, California! You made so many friends at your swanky Hollywood party in Chris Hemsworth’s mansion. Everyone loved your fantastic new outfit, and thought all your jokes were hilarious and interesting! You even gave a New Years smooch to your celebrity crush Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and/or Jessica Chastain.

This was a party for the books.

Now it’s time to drive home before everyone else clogs up the roads in L.A’s notorious traffic. But if you feel dizzy and you’re seeing double, even after your nap in the bathtub, do not get behind the wheel. Even all the knowledge from your CA traffic school education cannot help you drive!

The truth is, you could still be drunk or impaired.

Lucky for you, you’ve developed the critical thinking skills to determine whether you’re too drunk to drive thanks to your favorite traffic school teaching you that you should allow at least one hour for every standard drink consumed and to carry a trusty Blood Alcohol Level Chart wherever you go. You recount your night and remember:

Did you know that, on average, a person in the U.S. dies every 50 minutes in a vehicular accident that involves alcohol? This statistic goes to show us that too many lives are being cut short due to people getting behind the wheel while under the influence. It’s time to make a change, and December 2017 has now been deemed by Donald Trump as National Impaired Driving Prevention Month. This month is meant to increase the public’s awareness about the fact that it is our choices that lead to drunk-driving accidents.

It’s time we start making better choices and it starts with taking Comedy Defensive Driving.

There have been tireless efforts directed toward reducing impaired driving accidents over the past several decades. And even though for many years these efforts have proved to be of value, 2017 has proven itself to be a year in which these efforts are rendering useless. In fact, 2017 is the second year in a row that the nation has seen an increase in fatalities that are directly related to alcohol impairment. Last year, 28 percent of traffic fatalities were contributed to alcohol-impaired crashes and this percentage has since increased. It’s time that we reverse this trend before it gets worse.

Understanding The Affects of Drinking and Driving

It is crucial to understand that alcohol-impaired driving affects all Americans. It was in 2012 that more than four million American adults stated they had driven at least once within the past 30 days while under the influence of alcohol. Some people think that having just one drink will not impair the judgment, but truth is, it can dramatically change the lives of many, including those who are driving while impaired, their passengers, their loved ones, and innocent bystanders.

President Donald Trump wants everyone to know that his Administration is devoted to raising awareness about the dangers that are correlated with impaired driving. His Administration’s goal is to eliminate drunk driving within all communities. The Administration is striving to reduce “hundreds of harmful regulations” in an attempt to support “our American companies as they create new technology that can help us address impaired driving, from ride-hailing services to advanced vehicle technology.”

Educating Ourselves

It was also during the proclamation of December 2017 as National Impaired Driving Prevention Month that Trump stated he felt that the responsibility to eliminate impaired driving lies within the hands and hearts of all Americans. By taking precautions to ensure impaired driving is reduced, we are showing one another that we truly care about each other. This is why it is so important to keep our friends, family, and loved ones from getting behind the wheel of a vehicle if they are impaired by alcohol.

How does Trump suggest that we start this mission to prevent impaired driving? He says it starts by educating ourselves and those around us about the facts of drunk driving. And this education needs to start in our schools, community organizations, and churches. When we come together, we can reduce deaths and eliminate this problem that has been going on for far too long.

Defensive Driving

Are you doing your part to help prevent drunk driving? Contact your local schools and community organizations to see how your efforts can go a long way in preventing impaired-driving deaths. Also, make sure you take advantage of a defensive driving course that can teach you about staying safe while traveling.

Michigan state legislators approved a measure to extend the state’s current law which sets the legal limit for driving while intoxicated at .08% BAC. As amazing as it may seem the Michigan state law which set the BAC at .08% was set to expire this year. This prompted some vigilant legislation hawks to notify their local lawmakers and urge them to extend the current law rather than let it expire.

And lawmakers, eager to keep their constituents alive and kicking and protect the public safety in general, were all too happy to help.

Last week Michigan Governor Rick Snyder signed the proposed measure into law, extending the state’s .08% BAC drunk driving limit until 2018.

Separately, Washington State legislators also approved measures to extend the .08% BAC drunk driving limit to anyone who drives a boat, snowmobile or ATV, however Gov. Snyder made no guarantee that he would sign those measures into law.

One thing students of our Michigan defensive driving course understand is how much alcohol influences their behavior behind the wheel. Whether that wheel is used to operate a motor car, or a boat; a motorcycle or an ATV, the results are the same and often disastrous. Your reaction times are greatly diminished, as is your ability to judge distances, and/or make any kind of judgement at all.

Whether or not the law in your state sets a legal limit for the amount of alcohol you can consume before operating one of those vehicles, we recommend you don’t consume any alcohol at all; have a good time, be safe and arrive alive.

For drivers in Washington State, getting behind the wheel after having a few beers might become a much, much bigger deal than it has ever been before.

Just last week the Washington State Senate Law & Justice Committee approved a measure which they hope will improve the state’s impaired driving laws. The changes include making driving under the influence a felony on the fourth conviction, rather than the current law that has it at five DUI convictions within 10 years. Their proposal also includes a mandatory arrest if a person has a prior offense within the past decade and increases mandatory minimum jail time for repeat offenders. If someone with a prior offense is arrested again on DUI a court must require that an interlock device be installed on the person’s car with proof to be filed with the court within 10 days, or the court can require participation in a sobriety monitoring program, or both.

Mandatory arrests, mandatory installation of interlock ignition devices, increased risk of an extended stay in jail–clearly Washington State legislators are not messing around when it comes to drunk drivers and repeat offenders.

And well they should. Because despite the attention garnered by distracted driving, driving under the influence of alcohol, especially repeat offenses of those arrested once for drunk driving is no less dangerous than it has ever been. And despite best efforts by police and legislators to curtail fatalities caused by drunk driving the statistics show that drunk driving is still a leading cause of death on the roadways.

At My Improv we consider ourselves the Washington defensive driving school, so we recognize just how dangerous drunk driving is and applaud any efforts to help get the statistics turned around and focused on keeping everyone safe.

The National Transportation Safety Board recently announced that lowering the drunk driving limit to .05% blood alcohol content would greatly reduce vehicle collisions and traffic fatalities.

Unfortunately for the NTSB and public safety, their position was not immediately embraced by groups such as Mothers Against Drunk Driving, the Governors Highway Safety Association and the Automotive Coalition for Traffic Safety. MADD said reducing the drunk driving limit was not part of their plan to reduce drunk driving deaths and the GHSA and ACTS both said they were not convinced reducing the BAC drunk driving limit would decrease the number of fatal vehicle collisions caused by drunk driving.

This puts the NTSB in the uncomfortable position of defending a stance pretty much all by themselves. They say their studies have shown that reducing the drunk driving limit to .05% would drastically reduce the number of traffic fatalities-cut them in half, they say. This alone seems worth investigating, however, so far the NTSB is alone in their fight to get it done.

There has also been a vocal defense of the status quo from restaurant owners who serve alcohol because they fear guests who consume a glass of wine with dinner would wind up running afoul of the law on their ride home. So, not only does the NTSB not have any support for lowering the BAC drunk driving limit, they have actually already garnered some vocal opposition.

As an on line traffic school My Improv is committed to keeping our students on the right side of the law. If the legal limit for BAC is going to change, we’ll be sure to let you know right away.

It took a Delaware drunk driver about 2 minutes to completely destroy her own car, a lamp post, mailbox, a 2012 Mercedes, a 2012 Harley Davidson and an entire home after missing a turn and going off the road.

Police say Jessica Cook, 21, lost control of her car while speeding around a curve on New Granville Road very early Monday morning. Police have also said alcohol was a factor in the crash though Cook’s blood alcohol content has not yet been released. Police say they are still investigating the crash. Cook was not injured, and neither were any occupants in the home, though the county building inspector reported the house is now unfit for habitation because of the damage it sustained.

So, my question is, how many drinks does it take to destroy a home, two cars and a motorcycle, not to mention the lamp post and mailbox?

Drunk driving is about as far from defensive driving as you can possibly get, although distracted driving is even worse when it comes to the likelihood of you having a crash. The fact is, while distracted driving is a case of you not paying attention to what you are doing, driving after having a few drinks means even if you are paying attention your coordination just isn’t up to snuff. So you are more likely to crash.

Studies have shown that just two beers is enough to not only put some people over the limit, it also severely inhibits your ability to react or even think clearly. You are not in control of your senses when you are drunk. That’s what creates an opportunity for embarrassing photos to be taken of you and posted on your friend’s Facebook page. It’s also why you are more likely to crash your car. Although you might think you are perfectly fine, because you are drunk and not thinking clearly, you are wrong about being capable of driving safe.

Being a good defensive driver starts before you ever open the car door. It starts when you realize that you might not be able to drive safely after a few drinks so you arrange for a safe and sober drive home.

Image: Stuart Miles / FreeDigitalPhotos.net