Should DUI become DUIA?

Driving under the influence of alcohol or some other substance, or DUI, can impair your abilities to drive and cause a lot of problems. But there is a problem in the form of the most popular sleeping pill in the United States called Ambien. So, can we propose a name change of NUI into the DUIA, or driving under the influence of Ambien? This is one of the most commonly found drugs in the people arrested for committing traffic offenses, so there certainly are reasons for making the mentioned claim about the DUIA. Most of the people arrested in these cases said that they were sleep-driving.

It's Effects on the Traffic

Ambien is an old medication introduced 13 years ago and people are well aware of the dangers it can cause. But over the years, the drug has become very popular and today we have Ambien drivers who even do not remember getting into the car or even driving. During the last year alone, six million Ambien prescriptions were written. When we take all of this into consideration, it is not strange that some people do habitual things while half asleep.

Sleepwalking is one of the common side effects and this is written on the bottle itself. When we drink alcohol, we experience the same effects and so we cannot mix these two. And this is where another problem arises. People can now take one pill of Ambien after involving in a car accident, thus creating some sort of a trick which will reduce the penalty.

This is maybe farfetched but Ambien does have some part in the car accidents that occur everywhere. However, Ambien can help people involved in a car accident by giving them a plausible defense. People who took Ambien showed no response after involving in a traffic accident. Instead, they would sit in the car like nothing happened. Most of these people used Ambien along with other medications, or they suffered an overdose.

If a person has some of the sleeping disorders and uses Ambien, this person is very likely to do something around the house and in the morning, he or she will not remember a thing. So, this person can easily get in a car and start driving. At this moment, there is no need for writing more serious warning labels on Ambien since no national pattern has been found in the Ambien involving DUI cases. Accidents involving Ambien do occur, but they are considered unusual and so few in numbers. In 2004, there were 48 reports about the adverse situations involving the use of Ambien and only one was a traffic accident.

The problems with Ambien surly occur when people take other medications and drink alcohol while taking Ambien as well. Also, an overdose is another common cause. Less than a half of states do blood testing of those involved in a car accident and this should be changed. We know that most of the people would feel much safer on the road then.