Over the past decade, the issue of drunk driving in the state of Florida has severely worsened. In recent years, Florida has been among the top three states in drunk driving related deaths/accidents, this number has shown relatively no change throughout the past decade, and any change at all was mostly negative. Studies have shown, last year in Florida, about 230 children were killed in car accidents, as well as the fact that more than 799 total people died from drunk driving in 2021. In the sunshine state, about one alcohol related car accident occurs every 52 minutes. (www.bankrate.com) If we work together to implement new laws and procedures in bars throughout the state of Florida, we would most likely see a drastic decrease in these numbers. About 90% of Floridians are aware of the effects that drunk driving can have, while the remaining 10% are mostly unaware of the severity of the issue, thus, they tend to ignore the laws and warnings. Another study showed that 2% of Floridians over the age of 16 admitted to driving under the influence within the last 30 days. (https://www.southmiamirecovery.com/florida-dui-facts/) If all of these people were driving under the influence, why are they still out on the roads putting the lives of others at risk?

                The state of Florida needs to implement new laws in order to prevent the severe amount of people dying from drunk driving from growing any more than it already has. For all of the supposedly effective drunk driving laws that the state has, there are a surprising amount of people who actually get away with driving while impaired. Recently, on March 6th, in Manatee county, a drunk driver crashed head on with an officer who was sent to the scene in order to ensure that the impaired driver didn’t crash into the large group of people who were partaking in the Skyway 10k run. The officer was successful in preventing any harm and did not suffer fatal injuries, but the incident can be used as a prime example as to why drunk driving is so incredibly dangerous for not just the driver, but the people that they are around. Now, the officials may have caught this criminal, but what about the people who do drive while impaired, and are just never noticed by officers? In addition, during recent years, the percent of automobile related fatalities that were caused by impaired driving grew to about 30%. If the state of Florida made it against the law to leave a bar without taking a breathalyzer test, the amount of impaired drivers putting lives at risk would greatly decrease. Think about it, if citizens were required to take a short breathalyzer test after drinking at a bar, hundreds of lives could be saved per year! These are the new types of procedures that the political leaders of Florida needs to focus on implementing. If we can gather enough support and spread awareness for the issue of drunk driving, the politicians of Florida will be pressured to implement new laws and procedures in order to keep impaired drivers off the road! After all, why would we let innocent people die for no other reason than the poor implementation of laws and a lack of awareness?