Last updated : December 16, 2024
Where ever you’re unleashing your patriotic spirit this Independence Day, if you’re operating a motor vehicle, don’t drink and drive!
Many people celebrate on or near the water waiting for dusk to fall anticipating beautiful firework displays to fill the sky. Cold beverages, often including those containing alcohol, are on hand to help keep people cool throughout the hot summer day. Sadly, at some point, some people get behind the wheel of a boat after drinking without giving a thought to whether or not they can operate it safely.
The U.S. Coast Guard tracks the stats
The United States Coast Guard, a Department of Homeland Security, publishes an annual report that details recreational boating statistics. Its 2023 report indicates that the number of boating accidents involving alcohol use totaled 211. In those accidents, 79 people lost their lives because someone chose to drink and drive. Another 201 people received injuries, some of which were severe.
Those numbers were down somewhat from 2022 when alcohol-related boating accidents totaled 215 with 88 deaths and another 148 people injured.
Drug use, on the other hand, was accountable for 11 deaths and 2 injuries during 2023. That number has risen from the year prior when 8 boating accidents were attributed to drug use in which 6 people lost their lives and 2 were injured.
Land lovers drink and drive too
According to the United States Department of Transportation’s (DOTs) Traffic Safety Marketing Division, 196 people were killed in drunk driving crashes over the July 4th holiday period in 2022. Moreover, 27% of those people were involved in crashes where at least one driver—or motorcycle operator—tested with a blood alcohol concentration at or above 15 g/dL. That means it was almost twice the legal limit. And, that’s no matter what state—of the union—they were in.
The boating stats for an entire year were only slightly higher than the number of alcohol-related accidents on the road over the 4th of July holiday.
Dare we investigate further?
More sobering statistics
We checked out the DOT’s “Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over” campaign page and discovered the total numbers on record relating to alcohol-related accidents during 2022.
Here’s the shortlist.
- That year, 13, 524 people were killed because someone chose to drink and drive.
- In 2022, someone was killed every 39 minutes in a drunk-driving crash in the United States
- People drove more intoxicated at night than during the day—the rate of alcohol impairment was 2.9% higher then.
- Approximately one-third of all traffic crash fatalities in the United States involved drunk drivers.
Why do they do it?
Even though alcohol has long been a socially accepted drug in the United States, most people realize that drinking and driving don’t mix—ever! However, when someone suffers from alcohol addiction, or even if they over-imbibe and lose control over their cognitive thinking skills, they are more likely to act spontaneously rather than thinking things through.
Alcohol use disorder, formerly known as alcohol addiction, is characterized as a chronic disease that causes uncontrolled drinking and a preoccupation with alcohol. Those affected by the disease are unable to control their drinking due to both a physical and emotional dependence on alcohol.
As with other addictions, it usually begins with social drinking and over time, the person becomes dependent on alcohol. This means that their brain accepts the alcohol in the body as being a “normal circumstance.” When alcohol is absent from the system, the brain begins to panic and sends out alerts which we know as withdrawal symptoms.
Withdrawal symptoms aren’t pretty
After drinking alcohol regularly and, then, suddenly, it’s missing from the system, the body sends out distress signals, otherwise known as withdrawal symptoms.
These symptoms can begin as soon as eight hours after consuming the last drink, but can begin to appear days later as well. They can last for weeks.
Common symptoms include any or all of the following:
- Anxiety
- Nervousness
- Depression
- Fatigue
- Irritability
- Shakiness or jumpiness
- Mood swings
- Inability to think clearly
- Nightmares
Other symptoms associated with alcohol withdrawal are:
- Clammy skin
- Sweating
- Enlarged pupils
- Headache
- Loss of appetite
- Insomnia
- Nausea and vomiting
- Rapid heart rate
- Pallor
- Tremors in the hands or other body parts
Alcohol withdrawal symptoms can become serious. Delirium tremens can cause sudden and severe mental or nervous system changes. It can occur after an extended period of heavy drinking, especially when the person hasn’t been consuming enough food during that time.
It commonly affects “heavy drinkers” who consume the following amounts daily over a period of several months:
- 4 to 5 pints of wine
- 7 to 8 pints of beer
- 1 pint of “hard” liquor
It also affects people who have used alcohol extensively for more than ten years.
Symptoms of delirium tremens
Symptoms typically begin to occur within 48 to 96 hours after taking the last drink. However, it may be as many as seven to ten days before they set in.
Symptoms can worsen quickly and include:
- Agitation, irritability
- Body tremors
- Changes in mental function
- Deep sleep that lasts for a day or longer
- Sudden, severe confusion (delirium)
- Excitement or fear
- Fever
- Seeing or feeling things that aren’t there (hallucinations)
- Bursts of energy
- Quick mood changes
- Restlessness
- Sensitivity to light, sound, touch
- Stupor
- Sleepiness,
- Fatigue
Whole-body seizures can also occur as soon as twelve to forty-eight hours after consuming the last drink.
Battling addiction from the outside
We agree with experts in the field who declare you shouldn’t enable someone suffering from alcohol addiction—now often referred to as alcohol use disorder—by giving them money to purchase more or pay their bills. Nor should you cover for them at work or in any other facet. That can be a hard but necessary choice.
Refusing to let our friends or loved ones drink and drive this Independence Day might be a tough task too. However, it’s one we must shoulder. Moreover, if they remember the incident and ponder the possible consequences that may have ensued, they will be thankful you did.
It could even be the catalyst that causes them to decide it’s time to seek help. Is that grounds for a celebration worthy of fireworks?
It is! It is, indeed.
