As part of our series for National Safety Month, The Law Office of Lisa Pelosi wants to be a resource to encourage safety in the workplace and on the roads.
The first part of our series focused on fatigue and various methods to avoid fatigue. As a criminal defense attorney, we’ve seen first-hand just how badly fatigue can affect drivers and lead to accidents. While we focused on fatigue specifically in this first part, we’ll now extend the focus to impairment in general.
Impairment Safety Tips From Our Law Office
There’s real danger when it comes to being impaired during the day and as you drive. In fact, many of our criminal defense cases involve drunk driving, impaired driving, and other driving arrests.
Check out these tips to help stay safe and avoid impairment.
Impairment Risks
When we hear “impairment,” we most likely think to driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs. While this is indeed a huge portion of “impairment,” it’s not the only type that affects us on a daily basis. In fact, impairment is probably much more common and broad than you’d think.
Risks of impairment, according to the National Security Council, include:
- Losing sleep — even just missing a few hours a night can derail our bodies and cognitive functions .
- Chronic sleep loss — the more sleep you lose over a longer period of time, the more likely you are to be affected.
- Prescription drugs — it’s not just drug abuse situations that lead to impairment; in fact, many prescription drug directions recommend that users do not operate motor vehicles after taking the medicine.
- Marijuana — whether it’s CBD or THC, any type of cannabis at any dose can impair your functionality. From vaping and tinctures to pills and cigarettes, there’s not a better or safer way to use cannabis. There’s no safe level of THC when it comes to operating a motor vehicle, so it’s always better to avoid the situation entirely.
- Alcohol — when you start drinking for the night, it’s always better to get a ride and avoid driving.
- Emotions — if you’re going through grief or anger, your ability to focus and make rational decisions can be compromised. Additionally, stress is shown to affect our ability to process and make good decisions, thus making it much more risky to drive.
As this list of risk suggests, impairment stretches far beyond simply driving under the influence of alcohol. If you are not completely capable of driving, you should always exercise caution.
The Law Office Of Lisa Pelosi in New York
As the Top Rated Local® criminal defense attorney in New York, The Law Office of Lisa Pelosi is committed to making New York a safer place for all of its citizens. In addition to our series on National Safety Month, our blog seeks to provide helpful resources to both preempt and help you manage criminal defense situations.
If you’re in need of a criminal defense attorney in New York, contact our team today for a free consultation.
