Breanna Trujillo

120-040
2-11-15
Cover letter
In my English 120 class we are writing a position paper. We had
to choose something controversial that was local and that we felt
strongly about. I wanted to do the controversial topic of drinking and
driving. I think that this is a very big issue in New Mexico. I would love
to see the amount of deaths being reduced to very minimum. The
rhetorical situation that I am writing for is, I am writing a paper for the
state of New Mexico. I would want it to be for a DWI awareness
meeting or congregation. The audience that I am writing to is older
both male and female. The age group that I am aiming for is around 21
and up. I wanted to address the younger crowd so that they can
understand the laws for drinking and driving but I dont think they
would be as interested as the older crowd. I want to write this so that
people can see that the stricter laws on DWIs and drinking and driving
will help show people that harsher laws can help reduce the amount of
fatalities that alcohol related accidents.
I feel that this writing process was easier then the other two
paper that we had to write before this. While researching the
counterarguments I found all my main arguments, which made it
easier for me. The hardest part was organizing my paper. I dont know
how to organize it to make the points come across the best they can. I
feel that I did a good job at it and as the class progress I feel that I will

get better at organizing papers like this. I was a little surprised while
writing this paper because I already knew what I was going to do and
what I was going to write. I just started typing and the words flowed
out of me super easy. It caught me a little by surprise because Im not
as good at professional writing or this type of writing. Im excited to get
it because I know that Im going to need professional writing before I
need creative writing.
All throughout this sequence we have been preparing for writing
this MWA. In class and out of class we had to research, compose, plan,
prewrite, revise and collaborate. I had to research all my
counterarguments and all the evidence for my arguments. I feel that
the LSA were apart of the prewriting process. I had to compose all of
the LSA and the position paper. In class we had peer review where we
got feedback on our papers. I feel that the collaboration really helped
me get good advice on what I could do better especially because Im
not used to this type of writing. I think that researching is a very
important skill to have. I know that I will always need to know how to
research and what sources are good enough for all throughout my
college career and even in my career when I get out of college.
The things that I want feedback is if it is organized well and if the
paragraphs flow together well enough. I also need some feedback on
the thesis and if it was developed enough. I just want to make sure
that my thesis was obvious.

PositionPaper
Didyouknowthatin2010,145peoplediedinNewMexicoduetoalcoholrelated
accidents?(NewMexicoMonthlyTraffic1.)Therearemanyfatalaccidentsthatare
causedbydrinkinganddrivingeachday.BymakingthelawsstricterforDWIs,New
Mexicocanreducetheamountofdrunkdrivers,whichwillultimatelyreducetheamount
offatalities.Thelawscanpreventfatalitiesalloverthestate.Wecanevensetagood
exampleforotherstates.Theselawscanreallybenefitthewholestateandcanmakethe
roadssafer.Theparentssittingathomewaitingfortheirteendrivertocomehomefroma
latenightschoolactivity,willbeabletorestateaseknowingthatdrinkinganddriving
hasbeenminimizedtoalmostnothing.Changingthelawscantalwayskeeppeoplefrom
doinghorriblecrimes.MorethanhalftheU.S.stillhasthedeathpenaltyandthereare
stillpeoplethatbreakthelaw,knowingthattheconsequencesarefatal.Sohowcan
stricterlawsstopdrinkinganddriving?HowarethelawsinNewMexicostopping
drinkinganddrivingthusfor?

FirstoffweneedtoknowthelawsthatNewMexicohasondrinkinganddriving.
InNewMexicothelawsfordrinkanddrivingareasfollows:TheBACforaperson21or
olderis.08.ThelegalBACforaperson20oryoungeris.02.Ifyouarecaughtwitha
BACthatisoverthelegallimitthearrestingofficerwillrevokeyourlicenseonthespot.
Theamountoftimethatyourlicenseisrevokedisdeterminedonhowmanyoffencesyou
havealreadyreceived.Ifyouareconvictedincourtyoucanalsobeaccountablefora
fine,jailtime,communityservice,ignitioninterlockandmanymore.Ifyouareconvicted
foraDWIitisrequiredthatyougetaninterlocknomatterthenumberofoffences.
(NewMexicoDUIandDWI)NewMexicofollowstheselawsreallywell.
Theselawshavebeenveryhelpfulinkeepingdrunkdriversofftheroadand
preventingsecondorthirdtimeDWIoffendersfromdrivingdrunkagain.Thelawstates
thatanyoffenderthatisconvictedforaDWIwillreceiveaninterlockfortheircar.The
amountoftimetheinterlockstaysinthecardependsontheconvictionandthecrime.
Thewayaninterlockworksisthatthedriverneedstobreathintoabreathalyzertostart
thevehicleandthenyouhavetobreathintothebreathalyzerrandomlyduringtheirdrive.
Therehavebeenstudiesthathaveproventhatinterlockshavedecreasedtheamountof
drinkinganddriving.TheUnitedStatesNationalHighwayTrafficSafetyAssociation
conductedastudyinNewMexicothatwascompletedbetween19992002.Thesestudies
haveconcludedthattherateofrearrestswas66%lowerwhentherewasaninterlock
systeminstalledratherthenonewithoutone.(EvaluationoftheNewMexicoIgnition
InterlockProgram,UnitedStatesNationalHighwayTrafficSafetyAssociation.)This
studyshowsthattheignitioninterlocksystemisveryhelpfulinnotonlypreventing

drunkdrivingwhiletheyareinstalled.Italsoshowsthatevenafterthesystemistaken
outofthevehicle,theyareseeinglessrearrests.Therecouldbelongerperiodsthatthese
interlocksareinstalled.Thelongertheyareinstalledthelesslikelytheoffenderhasa
chanceofgettingbehindthewheelintoxicated.Thiscanreallyhelpkeeptheroadssafe.
ThestateofNewMexicoandmanyotherstateshaveBACof.08thelegallimit
foradult21orolder.Peopleclaimthatevenatthe.08limittheyarenotphysically
impairedandcanstilloperateavehiclewithnoproblem.Therehavebeenclaimsstating
thatMilddrinkersarelessdangerousdriversthanheavydrinkers,andtheygeneratea
smallfractionoftrafficfatalities.(GRANT,DARREN,"DeadonArrival:Zero
ToleranceLawsDon'tWork.")Therehavebeenstudiesthatprovetheclaim.Withthese
stricterlaws,lawenforcementsarecatchingandarrestingthepeoplethatarentcausing
thebigamountsoffatalcaraccidents.TheBAClimitshouldbehigherbecausedrivers
withahigherBACaretheonescausingtheaccidents.Peoplearedifferentlyaffectedby
alcohol.Therearesomanyfactorsthatgointohowalcoholisdistributedthroughoutthe
body.
Thewayalcoholhitsthebodyvariesbetweenpeople.Itvariesbetweenweight,
amountconsumed,amountoffoodconsumed,andthetimebetweendrinks.Another
majorfactorisifyouareaseasoneddrinkerornot.Thismeansifyouareusedto
drinkingandyourbodyisusedtohavingalcoholinitssystemyouwouldhavea
toleranceforit.Ifyouarenotaseasoneddrinkerthenthealcoholcanaffectyou
differently.InthebookbyBjork,JM,andJMGilmantheystate,First,becausethe
pharmacokineticsofalcoholcanvarygreatlyasafunctionofsituationalfactorssuchas

drinkingrate,concentrationofalcoholinthebeverage,oringestionwithfood,well
controlledlaboratoryadministrationisessentialformechanisticstudies.Moreover,great
variationinthetimingoforalalcoholactioninthebrainremainsbetweenlaboratory
participantsduetosexdifferences,age,genetics,orduetoadaptationstochronicalcohol
infirstpassmetabolisminthedigestivesystem(Neuropharmacology102).Theauthors
arestatingthatitisdifficulttodotestsonhowalcoholaffectsthehumanbrainbecause
therearemanyfactorsthateffecthowyourbodyintakesalcohol.Thereisnowaythat
youcanbecertaineveryoneiseffectedbyalcoholthesame.Someonecanhaveonedrink
andcanbewellunderthelegallimitbutcanstillharmsomeoneinacaraccident.There
innotellingwhethersomeonecanstilloperateavehicleevenafteronedrink.
Havingstricterlawsfordrivingwhileintoxicatedcanreallyhelpreducethe
amountoffatalities.Bymakinglawsandtherequirementsforignitioninterlocks.Wecan
reducetheamountofrearrests;indoingthiswearereducingtheamountofpeoplethat
getbehindthewheeldrunk.Wecanalsohavetheignitioninterlocksinstalledformuch
longerthentheyareusually.Havingthisignitioninterlockforlongercanreducethe
amountofintoxicateddrivers.Whilethesesystemsareinstalledthedrivercannotdrink.
WecouldalsolowerthelegalBAC.ThestudyresearchedbyGrantDarrenshowedthat
lowerBAClevels,thelesslikelythepersonistogetintoafatalcaraccident.Alcohol
affectspeopledifferently.Someonecanhaveonedrinkandbephysicallyimpaired.The
bestwaytokeepdrunkdriversofftheroadistohavestricterlaws.Basedonthesestudies
havingstricterlawonDWIscanreallyhelpkeepNewMexicanssafe.

Work cited
"NewMexicoDUI&DWILaws&EnforcementatDMV.org:TheDMVMadeSimple."
DMV.org.Web.3Feb.2015.
NewMexicoMonthlyTrafficFatalityReport,2014,TheUNMGeospatialandPopulation
StudiesTrafficResearchUnit.UNM,Feb.2015,Feb14,2015
GRANT,DARREN."DeadonArrival:ZeroToleranceLawsDon'tWork."EconomicInquiry.
48.3(2 Bjork,JM,andJMGilman."TheEffectsofAcuteAlcoholAdministrationonthe
HumanBrain:InsightsfromNeuroimaging."Neuropharmacology.84(2014):10110.Print.
010):763769.