Measures are being proposed in the United Kingdom to bring the drunk driving problem under control. There is still a long road ahead of the United Kingdom before the problem will no longer be an epidemic, but the government and its affiliated health organizations are implementing positive strategies that aim to make the roads of the United Kingdom a safer place to drive. The primary initiatives include but are not limited to the following:

• The integration of new laws. It is well recognized that when people perpetually break a law, it means they do not have a great deal of respect for it. By creating harsher legislation to penalize drunk driving, there is more incentive for people to find an alternative way of commuting other than driving. The United Kingdom is attempting to model its drunk driving laws after other countries that have had success with their DUI laws, such as the United States and Canada.
• Strong enforcement of these new laws is vital to ensuring that they are taken seriously. Drunk driving laws are enforced by an increased police presence during common drunk driving hours as well as random check stops along popular drunk driver commute routes. Every jurisdiction that has tightened up their drunk driving laws, publicly campaigned for them and properly enforced them has seen a significant decrease in the number of drunk driving charges.
• It is only logical to take measures that aim at reducing alcoholism and substance abuse, which is the root cause of drunk driving problems. Every case of drunk driving is an instance of alcohol abuse. This means that the United Kingdom needs to increase the presence of addiction, substance abuse and alcoholism treatment in the form of counseling and rehab, as well as local community resources such as support groups and shelters.
• It is important that all of these new measures be properly communicated to the public. This is its own kind of campaign and effort. Information needs to be distributed through the media and through public bulletins making citizens aware that changes to laws and local resources have been made. This way the public can implement change into their own thinking as well.

There is hardly any other society in the world that has stronger associations with alcohol consumption than the United Kingdom does. The British, Scottish, Welsh and some of the Irish make up the United Kingdom, and together they have created a reputation for themselves around the world for excessive alcohol consumption. While this may not necessarily be something to be proud of, it is certainly an old part of their culture. The countries within the United Kingdom have been drinking for millenniums, sometimes in moderation and sometimes in excess, but alcohol has always been present.

The United Kingdom’s history with alcohol is a rich one. Beer containers that date back over 10,000 years have been discovered by archaeologists, indicating that alcohol consumption has been present in the United Kingdom’s culture for a very long time. We know that a number of ancient societies drank alcohol more than they drank water because the drinking water was unclean. The United Kingdom’s alcohol traditions are also heavily tied to their wars, battles and revelries over the centuries. They evolved from societies that were known for having alcohol feasts in celebration of victories. During the Roman Invasion, wine became a staple in the United Kingdom and different cultures emerged over different alcohols.

There have always been two different natures to the United Kingdom’s relationship with alcohol. The elite drank in moderation while the populous drank in excess. Sometimes these roles were reversed, but generally speaking, one can see this culture present in modern times as well. With few exceptions, the high society of the United Kingdom continues to drink in moderation, but the working class is more out of control with their alcohol intake than ever before in history. There are a few plausible reasons for this.

Only several decades ago saw the official fall of British Imperialism with the apartheid in British colonial societies coming to an end. Great Britain was essentially demoted as a world power, which shook its collective confidence in its world standing. This was the culmination of several centuries of Great Britain losing its standing as the chief world power. This statistically causes depression and anxiety within a culture, which statistically prompts people to drink heavier. Alcohol is much stronger than it used to be in the past, so a culture with a long history of alcoholism is only going to find itself more plagued by alcoholism. Combine these factors with the gloomy weather and lack of vitamin D in the United Kingdom and you have the perfect recipe for out of control alcoholism.

Drunk driving in the United Kingdom has historically been a major problem. This region of the world has a reputation for alcoholism and substance abuse problems, and this epidemic is transferred onto the road safety statistics of the region. In recent years, there has been an outcry for a stronger enforcement of sober driving, as well as a stronger alcoholism treatment network in the United Kingdom. The tourism industry has even felt the effects of the drunk driving problems in the UK as tourists express concerns over driving on the same roads that other drivers, who are obviously intoxicated, are driving on. Advancements are slowly being made to end drunk driving charges and reduce road fatalities. Currently, the challenges that law enforcement, government and health organizations face is illustrated in the statistics below:

• In the United Kingdom, approximately 85-percent of drunk driving charges are issued to men. Women are much less likely to drive drunk.
• Currently, there are approximately 92,000 drunk driving charges issued per year in the United Kingdom, which is an improvement on the drunk driving crisis of the 1980’s that resulted in nearly 120,000 drunk driving charges per year.
• Currently, there are approximately 22,500 drunk driving fatalities that take place in the United Kingdom annually. This is an immense improvement on the 37,500 fatalities that were caused by drunk driving in the latter part of the 1980’s. Although there is still a great deal of fatalities to eliminate, this does show gradual improvement.

Progress is being made, however, the people living within the United Kingdom and those visiting it have naturally expressed safety concerns over vehicle travel. The government and its health organizations are responding with initiatives to come up with harsher drunk driving laws, diligently enforce said laws, make alcohol less available for sale and offer more in the way of alcohol addiction treatment. New legislation and health initiatives are currently being drawn up and tested to combat this lethal and pervasive problem of drunk driving in the United Kingdom.

The world is becoming familiar with the problem of alcoholism in the United Kingdom. This region is known for its strong draw to alcohol through culture and tradition, and with the music and party scene stronger than ever in the United Kingdom, the problem of alcoholism is steadily increasing. It is estimated that drunk driving is responsible for as much as 40-percent of all road deaths around the globe. Considering the United Kingdom’s drinking culture, driving through the area is a legitimate concern. Are the roads in the United Kingdom even considered safe to drive?

Fortunately, alcohol related road deaths in the United Kingdom have been on the decline over the last several decades. In the late 1980’s, the United Kingdom was experiencing a crisis of drunk driving charges that totaled nearly 115,000 per year between England, Wales and Scotland. Presently, the numbers are closer to 93,000 per year, which is not a drastic decrease but a slight alleviation of the problem. The number of fatalities over the same span of years has decreased at a much more drastic rate. In 1988, there were 38,000 documented drunk driving fatalities, while in the present day, the number is closer to 22,000. 90-percent of drunk driving charges are given to males.

While it is encouraging that drunk driving statistics in the United Kingdom have stopped rising, the charges and fatalities on the roads of the region are still shocking. Much of the drunk driving issue is blamed on the ever-present drinking culture that exists in England, Wales and Scotland. Alcohol rehabs and treatment centers of the United Kingdom are making an effort to reach out to alcoholics so that they can be connected to necessary treatment, but there is still much change that needs to take place. If you are a person struggling with alcoholism in the United Kingdom, know that there are numerous treatment options available to you and addiction experts eager to help you to the road of recovery.

Alcoholics in the United Kingdom should seek addiction treatment without hesitation. There are a number of rehabilitation facilities located in London, Birmingham and Leeds. Many United Kingdom residents even choose to travel outside of the U.K. for addiction treatment. In the United States, world class rehabs can be found in New York, Los Angeles and Miami. In Canada, treatment is available for addiction in Edmonton, Vancouver and Montreal.