Human stupidity is an amazing thing, it has virtually no limits and when you’re drunk it becomes exponentially worse. With our shockingly high rates of alcoholism in this country, it’s no surprise that there are more than 50,000 incidents every year due to drunk driving. 

Since there won’t be any reduction on alcohol consumption anytime soon, we have to as a nation raise awareness on why its bonkers to drive drunk. No matter how great of a driver you are, if you are drunk, do not drive, for your safety and others. Alcohol messes with your motor functions, your senses will not be accurate, and your brain’s reaction time will be much slower. 

Yes, it's fun, you're out with a couple of friends and now inevitably you've become really drunk. It would seem like a brilliant idea, hilarious even, to drive drunk, and alcohol isn't called liquid courage for no reason. So, you end up driving, blind drunk, paying no heed to rules and regulations, because nothing can harm you, why? Alcohol! Then you miscalculate the distance or your speed or a few hundred other variables and you run someone over or crash. Your expensive car is trash now, you've broken a few bones or possibly committed a murder. Do you realise what you have done? And if you’re caught, you’ll have to pay a hefty fine. The government does not keep a hefty fine for driving under the influence other than to keep us safe. Who’s going to pay taxes otherwise? 

There should be programs on how to mitigate this. We can’t have anyone on the road drunk, they’re a danger to themselves and everyone else on the road. To try and catch all of the possible drunk drivers is very tedious. So, we’ll have to enlighten our population on the harms of this practice. Sri Lankans love their booze, but drinking and driving is a recipe for disaster so this should be met with increased regulation and fines. 

You could die, harm others, destroy private or public property. Too drunk to drive? Crash at a friend’s place, call a transportation service like Uber or PickMe, or have a sober companion drive you. Just don’t drive while you’re drunk.