Driving in traffic is more than just knowing how to operate the mechanisms which control the vehicle; it requires knowing how to apply the rules of the road. This ensures safe and efficient sharing of the road with other users. Alcohol, drugs and driving simply do not go together. Drunken driving is one of the serious causes of road accidents.
There is an increase in risk of car accidents, highway injuries, and road accident deaths by consuming alcohol prior to driving. Alcohol could affect your driving by causing:
Impaired vision
Reduced reaction times
Reduced concentration and vigilance
Feeling more relaxed and drowsy, which may cause a driver to fall asleep at the wheel
Difficulty in understanding sensory information
Difficulty doing several tasks at once (e.g. keep in the lane and in the right direction, while concentrating on other traffic rules)
Failure to obey road rules
Over confidence, which may lead to risk taking
Alcohol is a depressant drug. It slows down the activity of the central nervous system, including the brain. Alcohol consumption delays the normal brain functioning and makes the person unable to perform normally. Drinking alcohol can have a profound effect on driving skills. But how the alcohol becomes the driving factor of overspeeding?
Cerebrum, cerebellum and medulla are the three major parts of brain.
The advanced functions such as reasoning, vision, recognition and emotion are controlled by cerebrum. But alcohol consumption affects judgement, inhibitions, movement, vision and speech.
Movement, balance, coordination and deals with reflexes are mainly controlled by cerebellum.
The medulla controls basic survival functions such as heartbeat and breathing, both of which processes can be stopped entirely by severe alcohol consumption.
Instructions to do things like, comprehending messages are carried out by nerves to different parts of the body as the nerves function as the message carriers in body. The brain and the nerves are made up of neurons that actually carry the messages from your brain and back. But the neurons doesn’t touch each other because there is space between each neuron’s called as synapses.
Electrical signals carry messages the length of the neuron and neurotransmitters carry the messages across the synapse to the next neuron. It is in the synapses that alcohol affects the working of your brain, as a couple of drinks will affect the efficiency with which neurotransmitters carry messages between the neurons. While driving the basic skills required are perception, judgement, quick physical reaction, and decision making. So when we drink too much alcohol, the co-ordinating mechanism doesn’t work properly and may lead to overspeeding. Avoid consumption of alcohol while using vehicles to reduce accidents on roads, and reduce overspeeding in any circumstances by installing speed governors.
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