Response to Chapter 10

In chapter 10 Rothe discusses impaired diving and the influences contributing to it. Rothe discusses impaired driving and how it becomes labeled as a problem. He mentions the medical model and how doctors measure the alcohol content in the blood. While this is a logical way to determine how drunk a person is, I do not agree that impaired driving is a medical problem. I think that the problem is that doctors have created a disease model for just about everything today. Doctors look at an alcoholic and label him as an individual with a disease. I do not see an alcoholic as a person with a disease because alcoholism is something he has done to himself. The alcoholic can stop drinking with the help of rehabilitation and therefore solve the problem of his alcoholism. A person with a real disease such as cancer can not stop the disease himself. The only thing he can do is pray that doctors and medicine can save his life.

Additionally, Rothe discusses situational influences for impaired driving.. For example, Rothe points out that people in a more upscale drinking establishment are less likely to become intoxicated and therefore less likely to drive drunk than an individual who has been drinking in a sleazy bar where sloppy intoxication is the norm. I agree with that because people who are drinking in a nice restaurant would probably be embarrassed to be seen leaving drunk while those in a sleazy bar would likely not bar what other patrons thought of them. After all, they are hanging out in the same sleazy place.

Although impaired driving is done by all kinds of people, economics plays a role in impaired driving as well. For example, champagne is a more expensive form of alcohol so it tends to be sold in smaller portions than cheap wines which are often sold in large jugs. The results here are obvious. The champagne drinker with more money is less likely to become drunk than the poor drinker of cheap wine.

Rothe also discusses political and legal influences of alcohol. For example he discusses government control of taxes on alcohol as well as the designated happy hours.. In addition the government seeks to control the use of alcohol by establishing codes of conduct or laws to govern alcohol use. Among these are laws regulating the public consumption of alcohol, impaired driving, and legal drinking age. While I feel these are good ideas on the part of the government to try to regulate the use of alcohol, I think that beyond implementing prohibition, there is really nothing the government can do to stop the abuse of alcohol and its many side affects such as impaired driving.

The media also plays a huge part in forming people's ideas about alcohol. Most beer commercials show a group of young, good-looking people drinking and having a great time. They never show the other more realistic side of drinking with the fraternity boy puking in the back yard or people becoming drunk and argumentative. The media intentionally leaves out the negative aspects of drinking in their adds. Therefore, individuals who consume alcohol do not think of the consequences of overinduling and do not think about impaired driving. They only think about having a good time.

Environmental issues which contribute to impaired driving are also discussed by Rothe. The environmental issues are very similar to the situational influences. For example, I have gone into a sleazy Chinatown bar here in Honolulu and the inside of the place was so dark it was difficult to see and the seats in the booths were low with high backs which made it hard to see who was sitting in them. I doubt this design was accidental. The place was likely designed to be a refuge for individuals who wish to overconsume and not be noticed or criticized for doing so. A person patronizing this dark bar is free to drink to intoxication and drive home impaired and most likely no one will say a thing to him about it. Thus the environment has contributed to the problem.

Time influences are discussed by Rothe as well. The time influences on impaired driving are obvious. It is far more likely that a person will encounter an impaired driver at 3AM Sunday morning after the bars have closed that 12PM Monday afternoon at lunch hour.

Cultural use of alcohol as Rothe discusses also contributes to impaired driving. In U.S. culture nearly everyone drinks. Use of alcohol is culturally accepted so the level of impaired driving is obviously going to be higher than in an Islamic country where the drinking of alcohol is prohibited by their religion.

In conclusion, Rothe urges readers to look at the many influences contributing to impaired driving: situational, social, economic, political, media, time, and cultural. It is not a simple problem with only one cause or one solution. With each incidence of impaired driving there is a unique cause. Rothe asks that with each incidence of impaired driving that people look at the reason why the person deviated from rational norms and what the consequences were for that deviation, and lastly to look at what the results would have been had the individual not driven impaired.

I agree with Rothe that this is a good way to assess the problem of impaired driving but I do not think that it will not think it will do anything to solve the problem. In order for there to be a reduction in drinking and driving, all the facets of the problem: bars and restaurants, liquor distributors, the government, and the media will have to take steps to examine their responsibility in the problem and take measures to curb it.