In the novel, Looking For Alaska by John Green, the lead female, Alaska Young, gets involved in a car accident and dies shortly after. Her friends try to find out the truth as their friend’s death was uncalled for, but not shocking. Most would say it’s a suicide since her friend’s investigation was surrounding the thought that she did it on purpose, however there’s much evidence pointing to why it isn’t. This essay will demonstrate a clear understanding of why Alaska’s death was an accident. First, Alaska Young, a young girl with a short future, tragically died in a car accident. The scene happened while she was driving 6 miles away from her high school, Culver Creek, while severely drunk. Leading up to the incident, the cop who was involved had been interviewed by her closest friends who asked “How drunk was she?” Her BAL was point twenty-four. That’s drunk, certainly. That’s a powerful drunk.” (183). After a series of questions, her friends gathered vivid yet solid evidence of why the car crash was a pure accident. In general, anyone described as a “powerful drunk” by an officer, shows that she was in no condition to be driving regardless. Under these …show more content…
As her friend’s searched frantically for why this incident would be a suicide, they ended up stating “Anyway, she didn’t show warning signs of suicide. I mean, she didn’t talk about wanting to die or give away her stuff or anything. That’s two of them. Drunk and no plans to die” (1990). This actively demonstrates that she never appeared suicidal to her close ones, despite them being the closest to her. It’s said that when one plans to kill themselves, they usually have a meticulous plan which lays out what they intend to do to themselves. Since the relevant signs of her being highly intoxicated and her nonexistent plans of a suicide were present, this showed clear reasons to how her death was presumably an
When such a hot topic as drunk driving is introduced, any reader, regardless of whether or not he agrees with Pitts, is more inclined to hear out the argument. In addition, the
Greg is an individual who has experienced a traumatic event while being intoxicated while being on the job. Greg was a paramedic and had come to a bad accident where a five-year-old boy was injured. The young boy had several injuries and Greg was responsible for providing him with the proper care. The unfortunate part is that Greg was intoxicated while on the job and he was not thinking clearly while making decisions involving the boys care; as a result, the boy’s death could have been prevented. This event turned Greg’s life upside down, this never would have happened if Greg would not have been intoxicated while being on the job.
When a death occurs suddenly, unexpectedly and from unnatural or unknown causes, a forensic scientist has the duty to gather and analyze evidence to determine whether the victim died from a previously undiagnosed disease or infection or from a homicide, suicide or accident (Lurigio, 2009). When considering suicide as the probable cause of death, we are looking at the act of intentionally killing oneself through one’s own effort or with the assistance of another (Sever, 2009). The resolution of the manner of death by a forensic pathologist as suicide is based on a series of factors which eliminate natural causes of death, homicide and accident (Geberth, 2013, p.55). The cause of death is also determined by the medical examiner in conjunction with the crime scene investigator; however, it can only be determined after a thorough investigation is concluded. Therefore, in the complicated process of doing a death investigation there are several mistakes that should be avoided, which are discussed in Geberth’s article, Seven Mistakes in Suicide Investigation (2013). Mistakes in doing any death investigation affect the integrity of the evidence in determining the cause of death and in its admissibility in court.
-One night, Alaska Young (the protagonist) becomes very depressed due to her forgetting that it was the anniversary of her mother’s death. She decides to leave campus in the middle of the night. To make matters worse, she has been drinking alcohol beforehand. This results to her dying in a terrible car crash. The book centers around her, before and after the crash.
No one can deny that driving drink has caused traffic deaths and injuries. Drunk driving is one of the most frequently committed crimes in the United States, killing someone approximately every 48 minutes. Drunk driving is “A time when humans willingly enter cages of glass and steel that move in such great numbers at such terrific speed, that subtle turn of the steering wheel can easily result in death” (Thomas). What possesses a person to get ...
There is knocking at a door late at night, and there a policeman standing at the door with information that a family member was in an accident that involved a drunk driver. This is one of those things people hear and believe that it will not happen, but it happens every day. Every 40 minutes, someone in the U.S. is killed by a drunk driver and in 2008, in Montana, 40 percent of all traffic fatalities involved DUIs (“Drunk Driving” 1). Drunk Driving affects everyone and people in Montana should look at what other states do to find ways to make the laws tougher and more enforced.
The most obvious cause of drunken driving contains a blood alcohol content above the legal limit, while operating a motor vehicle (Thomson, 2001). Another cause of drunken driving is due to the fact that drivers may believe that they are less drunk than they actually are (ReachOut). Other causes of drunken driving are that the driver may contain false confidence about his driving skills and alcohol suppresses the ability to make rational decisions (ReachOut). Lastly, one big issue that causes drunken driving is peer pressure. This occurs when the driver’s peers are pressuring the driver to take them somewhere (ReachOut). With all of these causes comes several
Drunk driving has been an increasing problem for many years. One issue that contributes to this is that in the United States it is actually legal to drive with a certain alcohol percentage. The blood alcohol limit is 0.8 percent (Drunk Driving). This means that a person may drive legally as long as they have a blood alcohol percentage of 0.8 percent or under. However, even at a percentage of 0.3 there may be some impairment of alertness and concentration (Drunk Driving). Driving requires fast reflexes that may be impaired at a 0.5 percent blood alcohol level but a person with this level of intoxication is not legally drinking and driving. Many people are arrested for drunk driving. In 2009, more than 1.4 million drivers were arrested for driving while under the influence (Drunk Driving). In addition, “an average drunk driver has driven drunk 80 times before their first arrest” (Get Involved). Therefore, there were a minimum of 112 million accounts of drunk driving in 2009 alone. Drunk drivers also cause an increasing number of deaths. Drunk drivers in the United States c...
The continuous rate of drunken driving deaths makes a case that the united States drunk driving laws are too lenient and makes a call for stricter laws. There is a need for the United States to improve on their drunk driving penalties just the way the other country’s have done and this is giving them a reduced rate of drunk driving death. The United States can’t go on like this. There is a need for stricter laws to be introduced as the United States.
Auto Wreck is an ominous, grim, and disturbing poem written by Karl Shapiro about death, fate, coincidence and the envisioning of reality. In this harsh poem Shapiro describes an awful car accident where many people ends up dead. He flawlessly employes a unique imagery and language that gives the reader a clear and true sensation of the terrible mishap. The author makes us feel as if we had seen and even experienced the car collision ourselves. Although it may see that the main focus in this poem is death, which is one of the most important, the poet also throws in the way he and everyone else saw everything after the accident, how their emotions changed, and how they envisioned reality afterward. Shapiro not only acknowledges and makes vivid the deaths that just occurred and how different people reacted to it, but he also discusses how much of an accident it really was, how someone had to be guilty and if anyone was really innocent at all.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates, “More than 10,000 young people in the United States are killed and 40,000 are injured in auto accidents when alcohol is involved” (“Understanding The Effects Of Alcohol: Drunk Driving”). Unfortunately, Jack was one of those individuals. Newly twenty-one, Jack was thrilled by the privilege to finally be able to drink legally. It was two o’clock in the morning, and the air was cold and dry. After a long evening of playing pool and enjoying drinks, Jack was now headed to his cozy home where his girlfriend was awaiting his arrival. The road was covered in a slight layer of pure white snow, as the December flurries began to set in. Jack knew there was snow on the road, so he drove along at a safe and careful speed. What he did not realize was that he slowly was gaining speed. As the alcohol began to catch up with Jack’s body, tiredness overcame him and he gradually dozed off. The next think he knew, he was lying in a hospital bed with his girlfriend apprehensively watching him. Once he regained consciousness, he was informed of his accident. He had skidded into the adjacent ditch, because of the slippery roads, and crashed into a tree line. His car looked like a piece of crumpled up wrapping paper on Christmas morning. Doctors said it was miraculous that he was even alive, but Jack was astonished to find out that he would never walk again. Although it may not seem like it to him or his family, Jack was very lucky to have had the accident he did. By making the decision to drive drunk, he could have risked an innocent individual’s
Looking for Alaska is a book ,written by John Green. The main theme of the book is “Looking for the Great Perhaps.” In the first three chapters of the book, the main characters, Miles “Pudge” Halter, Chip “Colonel” Martin, and Alaska Young are introduced. Looking for Alaska is a story about a guy named Miles Halter who recently switched to a boarding in school in Alabama in order to find out who he really is as a person. At the boarding school, Miles becomes very close friends with his roommate, The Colonel, and a girl named Alaska Young. The Colonel is a very confident guy who’s pretty poor in money, but he’s rich in love and appreciation for people. Alaska is a very beautiful, yet strange girl who is fascinated with death and isn't afraid
In this day and age, drunk driving has a reputation and stigma unlike it did one hundred years ago, when motor vehicles were first introduced to the mass consumer market. The end of prohibition, invention of the breathalyzer, advocacy groups such as Mothers Against Drunk Driving, and other historical events helped shape the public’s view of driving under the influence. By the early 1900s, motor vehicle accidents became problematic in the United States as alcohol related incidents began to be identified as a contributing factor to motor vehicle accidents. In 1904, the American Association for the Study and Cure of Inebriety published the first report on the negative effects of combing alcohol consumption with motor vehicle driving (Loewit-Phillips, 1). Fast forward to 1932, a study revealed that there was an as...
Many people in the United States enjoy a drink of their favorite alcoholic beverage. It could be a nice ice cold beer after a hard day of work or going to the bar and enjoying a few shots or mixed drinks with friends. Drinking alcohol is a common way to mingle with friends and take the edge off a difficult day. However, there are dangers involved with alcohol since it does dampen the body’s ability to cope with new information. Alcohol becomes a poison to the body when consumed in large quantities. The biggest danger is not to the driver after they become inebriated, but comes to anyone the drunk driver comes in contact with. A sober person can be dangerous just by being distracted, but a drunk driver’s ability to cope with changing situations and distractions is one of the biggest hazards on today’s roads. Some individuals believe that they are not as impaired as what they are led to believe from government ads and the many videos that show what can happen to someone who is drinking and driving. Although, there are many policies in place to advocate against drunk driving, there are those who would endanger themselves and others with their thoughtless actions when they jump into the driver’s seat of a vehicle. Drinking and driving should never be combined because a person who has been drinking does not have the ability to use all mental faculties unimpaired, many people have been killed, injured, or psychologically hurt by a drunk driver, many men and women do not know the difference weight and gender have on the body’s ability to process alcohol, and the financial and legal trouble that is awaiting for those convicted by a DUI.
It was a typical Monday morning as I drove home from work, exhausted from having to perform more than twenty four hours of duty. Windows down, Oakley sunglasses adorn my tiresome face to block the shimmer of sunlight from my sensitive eyes. Anxiously looking forward to the softness of my pillow, I pushed the accelerator to the floor propelling my car into overdrive. Zipping by the night club Area 151 was when I notice him lying on the ground, motionless. With tires screeching I quickly came to unrehearsed stop, the rush of adrenaline and flashes of my military training captivated my mind, transferring me into autopilot. As I ran over to his location yelling “hey buddy are you ok” following the ABC’s of first aid, I could not help but notice the large pool of blood from the deep laceration on his face, the twisted front wheel of his bicycle, and a strong stench of alcohol coming from his liquor stained John Sport backpack. “All my beers are broken” was all he muttered as he fell trying to get regain his footing, relieved that the fellow was alive I immediately called the police. As I spoke to the paramedics on the situation I could not help but ask myself “how could someone be so intoxicated at this time