Drunk driving can have serious consequences in more ways than one, and a person should understand how just because they got away with it the last 10 times doesn’t mean that they will get away with it the next time. Many bad things can happen, and you don’t want to be held responsible for any of them. Here are the top reasons to avoid drunk driving:

1. You Can Maim Yourself

You have stories of people who drove drunk, got into a crash, and they lost both legs and both arms. In other stories, someone got into a wreck, and they lost their eyesight. It happens all the time. You don’t want this to be you. Maiming yourself in a drunk driving accident is a real possibility, and in all cases, it will be life changing.

2. Insurance Costs Go Up

A DUI conviction means an average of an 80 percent increase on one’s driver’s insurance. It gets expensive to drive drunk. In some cases, if a person has received multiple convictions for drunk driving, no insurance company will want to insure them because they see them as too high of a risk. Not only does it increase the costs, but it takes 10 years before you will see your insurance rates go back down after a DUI conviction. Don’t let this happen to you.

3.You Could Kill Someone Else

Do you want to be the reason that someone’s mother, father, daughter or son didn’t make it home to dinner that night? The guilt that drunk drivers have expressed over killing someone has even led them to suicide. In the United States alone, almost 30 people die every single day because of drunk drivers. That means that one person dies from drunk driving every 50 minutes. That should highlight the extent of this problem. To be the person who was the reason behind that would be absolutely devastating.

4. Professional Driver? Not Anymore!

Perhaps you have a driving job that you love. You had a few beers one night and came home drunk, but the police pulled you over on the road. You were arrested and charged with DUI, you can lose your license. This includes other types of professions as well such as being a doctor, being a nurse, a lawyer or a teacher. You can lose your license and right to practice the job of your dreams because you got drunk and drove home.

5. The Fines Cost a Pretty Penny

Getting a DUI costs a lot, and it’s not worth it. On the Gold Coast, you face a fine of as much as $1,706. Not only that, but you could face jail time for up to three months. If that wasn’t enough, it drastically rises if you were drunk driving and killed someone. You need good lawyers for drink driving especially if you killed someone because you could be facing a lengthy prison sentence.

6. You Could Cause Expensive Property Damage

You have stories of people who got drunk one night and plowed right into a shopping center. They caused tens of thousands of dollars in damages to the shopping mall, and they will have to pay all of that back because they were responsible for it. Even a drunk driving fine looks affordable in comparison to the damages that you could do to someone’s property.

7. You Could Harm a Child

Hundreds of children die every year as a result of drunk driving. In fact, in a single year, they estimated the number at 1,149 children who died because of a drunk driving accident. Many of these children were under the age of 14, and no one wants that on their conscience.

For those who have already landed themselves on a drunk driving charge, they may want to look for qualified representation. Good legal representation makes all the difference. In some cases, good people make poor choices, and that doesn’t mean that they should suffer for it for the rest of their lives. With that said, it is better if people never do drunk driving because it can lead to some devastating consequences for all involved.