Persuasion, Indoctrination and Inoculation
Refraining From Driving Under the Influence of Alcohol and Drugs

Pamela Hill
PSY/285
August 3, 2014
Lynn Lunceford

The following essay is an attempt to persuade my fellow classmates to take action and to support my position of refraining from driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs. This essay will incorporate inoculation and indoctrination, while including logical inquiry, problem solving and critical thinking to support arguments and peripheral cues. Not only does driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs create risks for the driver, but everyone else on the road as well. Alcohol and drug use behind the wheel has become second nature in our country, and must be stopped. Each day in the United States, people drive under the influence of alcohol and drugs almost 300,000 times, but fewer than 4,000 are actually arrested for this crime (Federal Bureau of Investigation. Crime in the United States: 2012). In 2012 alone, 10.3 million people reported driving under the influence of illicit drugs in the past year (2012 National Survey on Drug Use and Health). The consequences of driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs can be numbing; arrests, property damage, injury and most likely death. Based on information provided by the Bureau of Transportation, every two hours, at least three people are killed in alcohol and drug related highway crashes. Drugs and alcohol are not only responsible for highway and vehicle fatalities, but of tearing apart families as a whole. The addict and alcoholic suffer from their own demons, but the family members are not immune to this suffering. Abuse of family members can be directly related to the abuse of alcohol and drugs. Children are born everyday addicted to their own mother’s drug of choice. The very first day of a newborns life can literally be a matter of life and death. Our fight against drugs and alcohol not only will save lives on the road, but can improve family life at home as well. So, let’s take a stand against driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs. Let’s do it for the alcoholic and addict, and let’s do it for our future generations. Anti-alcohol and drug awareness programs apply persuasive principles to the fight against driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs. It has been discovered, that by triggering people’s cognitive processing skills, we can get people intellectually involved in the fight. Public commitment is another form of persuasion. Seeing others take a stand can induce more and more people to become more involved. The more people that can gather together for a cause, makes a stronger foundation for commitment and progress. Awareness programs and stronger enforcement efforts are having a more positive impact in decreasing these harrowing statistics of death and suffering by the hands of the alcohol and drug induced driver. I have a personal stake in my own commitment against driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs. I have seen much stronger penalties in place since my very own personal loss on two separate occasions, in 1966 and in 1972. I was 6 years old in 1966, and it was common to see people drink and drive. There was not a lot of significant enforcement against drinking and driving or being under the influence of drugs while driving back then. My mother and my two brothers were struck head on by a drunk driver. I was the only one in the car that did not lose consciousness. I watched as the driver of the cement mixer truck stumbled drunkenly from his truck as I screamed for my mom to wake up. I was in the back seat of the car and can vividly remember the noise of the horn blaring on my mom’s car. I reached across the seat to pull her back from the steering wheel, and saw the broken steering wheel protruding from her right eye socket. Her eye hung from what looked like a thread. All I could do is wrap my arms around her neck and beg her to be OK. My mom spent eight months in the hospital as well as in rehabilitation. The driver of the truck only lost his job. He was not convicted of driving under the influence. He walked away from that accident without a scratch. My family (especially my mom) still suffers today from the horrors of that particular drunk driver. Another example of the injustice of drunk driving happened to my grandmother, her daughter (my dad’s sister), and her three grandchildren (one unborn). On a Sunday afternoon, my grandmother was a passenger in her daughter’s car on the way home from church. As they rounded a curve, a 16 year old girl hit them head on, killing the entire family in that car. I was 12 years old at that time, and remember seeing my dad cry for the very first time in my life. He lost his mother, sister, and three nieces in one moment of another person’s negligence. His sister was eight months pregnant, and driving the car. The impact was so strong, that her child was forced from her body and died on the floor between her feet. Another daughter in the back seat was struck in the head and killed instantly by the car battery that became dislodged upon impact. My grandmother remained unconscious and passed away two days later. The 16 year old girl was convicted of five counts of vehicular manslaughter, and was sentenced to 6 months in juvenile detention. Six months for five innocent lives lost because she chose to get behind the wheel of a car while she was drinking, it almost sounds ludicrous! I often wonder if this girl lives with that reality everyday of her life. She did not receive a sentence that warranted the loss of five lives, but she must play that scene in her mind on a daily basis (or at least I hope she does). I feel like I can be an extremely strong advocate for the fight against driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol. I have seen firsthand the pain and loss that occurs when someone chooses to get behind the wheel while under the influence of alcohol or drugs. Not only does the devastation affect the driver, but the family of the lost ones as well. People may say that it is a right to be able to make their own choice concerning drug and alcohol use. Yes, that may be one’s right. But, when it comes to putting other people in harm’s way, then it no longer becomes a mere right as an American, it becomes a crime. As long as we continue to educate and to make aware, the dangers involved in driving while under the influence of drugs and alcohol, and maintain strict enforcement, we may have a snowball’s chance in hell of actually making a difference. In memory of my lost family members to drunk drivers, I will continue to stand up and voice my opinion on the perils of drinking and driving.

References
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 2013. http://samhsa.gov www.madd.org/statistics Meyers, D.G., Exploring Social Psychology. 5th ed. (2009)