Drunk Driving Statistics Essay

The current situation in New Zealand in terms of binge drinking is slowly rising and becoming more of a danger to a person’s health and the ones around it. Based on data from 2017/2018 it was identified that around 4 out of 5 people have consumed alcohol in the past year and presumably 25% of them were drinking dangerously, as in binge drinking. Binge drinking is when one is constantly consuming alcohol in a short period, in large quantities. In 2016 an estimate of 10.7 litres was consumed per person in NZ and over the last 10 years spirits intakes have risen on average 35%. Since New Zealand has such an availability of alcohol it would be presumed that many people would buy and use it daily, some to an extent which would be classified as dangerous. In 2018 around 35 million litres of pure alcohol was available for sale. The consequences of binge drinking in New Zealand have caused many deaths and accidents to occur, in the year 2007 there were 800 deaths; 43% by injuries, 30% from cancer, and 27% by other diseases that have also occurred due to alcohol abuse. Drunk driving has caused 20% of fatal crashes, a factor in 1 out of 10 minor injury crashes and 15% of major injury crashes. Not only has alcohol caused many deaths and car accidents, but alcohol was also involved in 1 out of 3 family violence situations in 2018 and 40% of violent offenses are caused by either the victim drinking, the offender, or even both at the same time.

The Dignity of the Human Person by definition is something that is valued, respected, and significant to a person, your dignity is not made and changed by what you did or do but by who you are, what you believe in, and different aspects of your life that make a change to what you think, some examples are background, family, and religion. Your dignity is built up on what has changed you and is your self-worth and how you represent your honor “Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.” John 13:16, this scripture tells us that God created all of us to be like him and to act upon how he would’ve done. It also represents that no matter what you do for a living and for what you have done, it doesn’t make your dignity and it doesn’t represent who you are as a person. In this scripture, it says how someone who has a higher rank isn’t greater than the person they command nor anyone around them as we are made equal and that certain things around us don’t define us. “1700 The dignity of the human person is rooted in his creation in the image and likeness of God (article 1); it is fulfilled in his vocation to divine beatitude (article 2). It is essential for a human being free to direct himself to this fulfillment (article 3). By his deliberate actions (article 4), the human person does or does not, conform to the good promised by God and attested by moral conscience (article 5). Human beings make their contribution to their interior growth; they make their whole sentient and spiritual lives into means of this growth (article 6). With the help of grace, they grow in virtue (article 7), and avoid sin, and if they sin they entrust themselves as did the prodigal son to the mercy of our Father in heaven (article 8). In this way, they attain to the perfection of charity.” This Catechism of the Catholic Church Scripture shows us that our dignity is in God as he was the one who created us and that we must direct ourselves and pour dignity into what God has done and what he is telling us to do. This applies to binge drinking in NZ because binge drinking can lead to many consequences that can affect your dignity.

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“2290 The virtue of temperance disposes us to avoid every kind of excess: the abuse of food, alcohol, tobacco, or medicine. Those incur grave guilt who, by drunkenness or a love of speed, endanger their own and others' safety on the road, at sea, or in the air.” This quote tells us that binge drinking is not good because according to The Catechism of the Catholic Church #2290, it states that we should avoid the abuse of alcohol to any excess. The reason why binge drinking is against the Catholic Principle of Human Dignity is because according to 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore, honor God with your bodies.” We must honor our bodies because they are temples that God created, and we must respect them and not cause them harm just like how we should not abort, self-harm, or suicide. The Bible and church teach us that our bodies are meant to be sacred and when we binge drink, we aren’t treating it like it is sacred. Once alcohol is in your system you are a danger to yourself and those around you. Alcohol can cause many different types of harm to the body, using an excess of alcohol can affect your mindset and alter your decisions contributing to either drunk driving or violence both can cause harm not only to yourself but to others around you.

When a person binge drinks, they are not showing respect for their human dignity because consumption of alcohol is against what the church teaches. An over-consumption of alcohol, also known as binge drinking, can affect how you act around yourself and to those who are around you. Having an informed conscience changes someone's decisions on whether or not they should binge drink because then they would know the harm that their actions can do to people and their dignity. Once we start thinking with a well-informed conscience about the harm and consequences of binge drinking, we will be able to make the right choices and stay clear of drinking an unhealthy amount of alcohol. As soon as the person realizes that binge drinking can lead to an abnormal state of mind and can change your feelings and what you are doing, the fact that someone’s life or their own is online once they are in that state of mind when they can't make the proper decisions they will realize that they need to keep their dignity by not inflicting harm to their environment. There are many factors that alcohol has on your relationships with your family, friends, and yourself, one of them would be your actions, once the alcohol has taken over your mindset you can't control what you are doing and can end up harming yourself in a variety of different ways, for example, drunk driving can lead to you crashing and cause major injuries or even death. Another reason why binge drinking can affect your relationships is that not only can you cause harm to yourself but the others around you. Even if you are under the influence of alcohol, it won't excuse you for putting violence upon anyone, once you have inflicted violence or pain on someone that will instantly affect your relationship with that person even if it may have been a one-time thing. As mentioned before if you binge drink and then drive you could crash not only causing pain to yourself but also to someone else who was on the road. Binge drinking can also affect and change your dignity and your religious beliefs, the Bible clearly states that drinking an excess of alcohol is against its teaching and also causes pain and not respecting your body, when it was God who made it for you to respect is not the way you should be living your life as a Catholic. But even though you shouldn't binge drink some Catholics still do it, some even on a regular occasion, and there are many reasons why they still binge drink even if it is against the scriptures. One of them is peer pressure, one of the main reasons why people drink, or binge drink is because people are pressuring others and their friends to do it with them because it is fun to some people. Another reason would be, as mentioned before, alcohol changes your mindset and helps you forget about things, and to some people alcohol makes them feel more carefree and happier, alcohol makes them forget about their life and the worries that come with it.