Avoid driving under the influence.

This is also against the law in most places. Most people get drunk and don't realize that they are. They don't realize that just a few drinks takes away your ability to reason well and make good decisions. Reaction time is compromised as well as the ability to think quickly. This applies to both alcohol and marijuana consumption. All it takes is a failure to react properly in an emergency and bang! You're in an accident that going to be very costly. The Courts take this very seriously. You'll get a big fine, points on your license and a possible jail term. If you kill someone, you're definitely going to jail for quite some time. It isn't worth it.

In America, 13,000 people die from drunk driving incidents every year, and this is 40% of all driving fatalities. Drivers 21-30 are the most likely to be involved in an alcohol related incident. Drunk driving costs 115 billion dollars every year on average. These statistics are from Driver Safety.

Many states have a blood alcohol limit of 0.08% (There is no limit for marijuana yet). If you're at or above this limit you could have your license suspended even for a first time offense. Repeat offenders go to jail. Just how much alcohol does it take to get to this limit? Most people can remain below the limit if they consume only one alcohol drink per hour. That represents one 12 ounce beer, 5 ounce glass of wine or 1.5 ounces of distilled liquor.

I've made this mistake myself. I drove a car while drunk on several occasions. One thing I've noticed about drunk drivers is that the alcohol makes them think that they're Mario Andretti, the famous racer. They go much faster than normal or do idiot things like speeding through red lights and stop signs. That's one dumb mistake I never made. I realized that I was impaired and took it easy. No use compounding the stupidity. I don't ever drive after drinking alcohol nowadays. It just doesn't make sense to take a chance with fate.

The best way to avoid having to drive drunk is to appoint a designated driver, one person in the group that will not drink or at least won't drink too much. The other way is to hail a cab. During the usual drunk feasts like New Years, many cities and towns will take people who have had too much to drink home. They probably figure that it's better and cheaper to do that than to have to clean up a nasty accident.

What's so sad about this rule is that young people are the most vulnerable to this mistake. They aren't experienced alcohol drinkers and they certainly don't have enough experience behind the wheel. I cringe every time I see an accident blamed on alcohol consumption in which teens get killed. That's why I made this the first rule.

Thanks for reading.