TEEN DRINKING & DRIVING
Photo Source: 123rf.com
Teenage Drunk Driving Statistics
In recent times, drinking and driving has
become a serious issue among teenagers in
the United States. In order to drive safely, a
person has to be alert, capable to make decisions based of incidents happening around
and execute them. This coordination while
driving becomes difficult, especially under the
influence of alcohol. Alcohol leads to loss of
coordination, poor judgment, slowing down of
reflexes and distortion of vision, all of which
invariably lead to an accident. The statistics
related to alcohol and driving indeed depict
a gruesome picture about the entire phenomenon.
The statistics
of drunk driving
compiled by the
National Highway
Traffic
Safety
Administration,
U.S. Department
of
Transportation,
produce
some staggering
facts about drunk
driving. Out of
12,998
drinking
driving fatalities
in the United
States 1,393 were
caused due to
teen drinking and
driving.
About
28% of teenagers
killed in motor
vehicle
crashes
were
drinking
either before or
while they were
driving. Most of
the drivers forget
to use their seat
belts after consuming alcohol.
Around 64% of
teenagers
who
were
involved
in fatal drunk
driving
crashes
were reportedly
not wearing their
seat belts. The
study rates motor
vehicle crashes as
the leading cause
of deaths among
teenagers. It also
reported that the fatalities caused by teens
drinking and driving constituted 40% of all
alcohol-related fatalities in the United States.
Drinking and driving statistics, compiled by
the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), showed that more than half of the
drunk driving accidents involving teenagers
were reported on either Friday, Saturday
or Sunday. It also showed that about half of
these accidents occurred between 3:00 pm
and 12:00 am. According to the studies done
by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety,
Source: www.buzzle.com/articles/teen-drinking-and-driving-facts-teenage-drunk-driving-statistics.html
young people are less likely to drive after
drinking, but when they do they are more
likely to end up crashing as they are drunk and
relatively inexperienced in driving.
Since 1875, an estimated 24,560 lives have
been saved due to implementation of the
minimum drinking age. The legal age has been
changed several times and fluctuated between
18 and 22. The current minimum age for purchasing or consuming alcohol is 21, which was
implemented by all the 50 states of the United
States of America in July 1988. Drunk driving
stats confirm that increasing the age led to
reduction in the number of accidents caused
by teens drinking and driving. According to the
zero tolerance law, it is illegal for any person
below the age of 21 to drive with 0.02 percent or greater blood alcohol content (BAC). A
study done in 12 states of the United States of
America reported that the proportion of fatal
accidents reduced by 20% after these states
passed the zero tolerance law.
In some people, alcohol triggers the overconfidence of being able to handle anything,
while for some others, allowing or encouraging a drunk person to drive means sheer
fun. Driving safety is something that just goes
out of the window when under the influence.
Statistics of teen drunk driving suggest that a
teenage boy with BAC levels of 0.05 percent is
18 times more vulnerable to crash his vehicle
than a teenage boy who hasn’t consumed
alcohol. In girls, this vulnerability increases to
54 times over her non-drinking counterpart.
On behalf of the administration, initiatives
like sobriety checkpoints and legislation like
zero tolerance laws have been introduced.
Organizations such as Students Against Drunk
Driving and Mothers Against Drunk Driving
have been actively spreading awareness about
the hazards of drinking and driving. Though all
these efforts have decreased the number of
casualties caused by teenage drunk driving,
the numbers depicted in the latest statistics
are still very frightening. The need of the
hour is to completely curb this social menace,
which is something that threatens the lives of
our young loved ones.
By Abhijit NaikLast Updated: 9/22/2011
abusemagazine.org | Illinois Spring/Summer 2014 |
19