Teen Driving and Alcohol


 
Teen drivers now days fail to withstand peer pressure and succumb to drinking alcohol. What is worse is that they then break another law in that they drive after drinking or while drinking. Their senses become diluted and they cannot intake their surroundings properly, inhibiting their driving skills.

Few teens that have had something alcoholic to drink have a low blood alcohol content and a small number of these are involved in fatal crashes. Though a small amount of drivers have more than a 15% of BAC, a greater percentage of those teens will be involved in deathly crashes. The average blood alcohol content of the fatally injured drivers is 16%. Drivers with a high BAC are generally males between the ages of 25 and 35, a little older than teenagers but they usually have a history of DWI convictions and polydrug use. The risk of death by car accident for a driver who has a high BAC is 385 times more likely to crash than that with zero percent blood alcohol content. For drunk male drivers the risk is 707 times that of a sober driver. All of this is according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

The solutions to this problem include but are not exclusive to stricter rules, laws that place harsher boundaries on these immature teenagers. Better role models should also be given to them. The kinds of things advertised, sung about, made popular, and displayed before them by the very ones who warn against the dangers of alcohol should be terminated and replaced with better examples. When the law is broken it should be enforced strictly and harshly. It is regrettable but imperative. Stricter laws and harsher enforcement of these laws will prevent many teenagers from drinking in the first place or secondly getting into a car and driving it if drunk or buzzed. I believe that harsh and defined laws that are well laid out and well-kept are the best measures to take, but good examples from parental figures is also vital to saving the lives of many reckless teens. Parents and loved ones need to keep a closer watch on their teens and also become more involved in their lives. What usually drives teenagers to drinking or other erroneous acts is the lack of love or happiness in their lives; the want to please someone, if not a father or mother or older sibling then friends that easily accept them for their shady deeds.
I myself believe that if I stand up and out against drinking in the first place it would set a good example not only for my peers but also my younger sister and her friends. I may get called out for it, made fun of, taunted, or I may lose friends for it. But better a loss of friends than lives.

Hmm, well I live next door to the binge drinking capital of the U.S.A, when I was younger the laws didn't stop any teens I knew from drunk driving, most of the alcohol came from older friends and parents who supplied them if they gave them money. I also know many of the kids parents loved them and had no idea what they were doing behind their parents backs. I'm not sure how exactly you would be able to, but some way to make sure older people aren't buying minors drinks, stricter laws and heavy fines in place for being caught supplying minors with liquor would help I believe, also harsher penalties for teens caught driving intoxicated, like not being able to drive for a long time.

thats exactly how i feel...thanks for the response ^_^

My issue is all the generalizations of this topic. Not all teens are guilty of this. I certainly wasn't when I was a teen.
If someone wants to do something, they're going to find a way to do it, no matter the consequences. Also I really dislike the phrasing here :

What usually drives teenagers to drinking or other erroneous acts is the lack of love or happiness in their lives;

how do you know? Some could come from perfectly loving families, but one night they got bored and became a statistic. It's kind of cruel to say things like that.

Out of all my friends that can drive, none of them would ever consider going behind the wheel when they've had a drink

Poet didn't give a donkey's sparkley butt about what their peers thought. Poet's peers were idiots who would "flash guys" to get attention or pick on people...

Poet also has seen a lot of drunk drivers on the road so poet just stays off them @_@

Actually, I think the laws should be more lax. Prohibition didn't work on adults and doesn't work on teens. If drinking laws allowed minors to drink under adult supervision, more kids would be learning about drinking responsibly instead of taking their first gulps under cover with other kids and it wouldn't be such a "OMG WERE BREAKING THE LAW!!!11!" novelty.

If any laws need tightening I'd say declare 21 as the age of majority for everything including driving.

Well if we lax the laws too much humans will go extinct through sheer stupidity... >.<

The laws in America that deal with driving under the influence are lax compared to European countries. In this instance I believe the United States could learn a lesson with stricter and most importantly enforced laws. As some European countries have I believe we need to work on molding our society into one that does not tolerate drinking and driving.

We must continue to educate our teenagers about the dangerous alcohol, this is for certain. On the other hand I don't think stamping down on alcohol will work. Alcohol will always exist and will always be available. Teenagers will be teenagers. During prohibition alcohol was readily available, bootlegging was common, and the idea that prohibition was cracking down on alcohol and kept people from drinking was absurd. There was also the spectacle of Al Capone, the hijackings, gangs wars, and all of it was a bad deal. Therefore I think we have to accept that alcohol or drugs will always be tempting our children and it isn't something we can wish away. If the kids can't (and they will anyways) get alcohol they'll get something else. It'll always be available whether legally or illegally. Using prohibition as a example again... it didn't stop people from drinking by any means and instead it created a new black market. The problem with a black market verses a legal market disputes cannot be handled in court and instead generally get handled with firearms.

I believe we should focus on teaching our next generation to be responsible and cultivate a culture that stands against drunk driver through the use of stricter punishments, enforced punishments, and as elders being positive role models. Trying to restrict access to alcohol is historically not very effective. Punishment and enforcement on the other end can be.

---------- Post added 10-20-2012 at 01:32 AM ----------

I totally agree with changing the drinking age to eighteen or raising everything to twenty-one. You're either a adult or not one, right? Plus, if you can own a gun, enlist and fight for your country, sign a contract, get married, vote, buy a car, buy a house, go to college, get a loan, and all that why can't you drink? While alcohol is a massive responsibility so is enlisting, signing a binding contract, marriage, purchasing land, being an adult, legally purchasing a firearm, and so on.

More than that MLDA21 (raising the drinking age) had absolutely not effect on deaths. Like dry counties having more alcohol related issues it has counter-intuitive effects.

Anyways, link.

teenagers should not be allowed to drive, i hate teens because they are complete idiots... thinking its cool to drink, smoke and drive... i get asked by underage teens to buy them alcohol when i go to my local shop.. i laugh in their face!

Originally Posted by crushedandmelted

Actually, I think the laws should be more lax. Prohibition didn't work on adults and doesn't work on teens. If drinking laws allowed minors to drink under adult supervision, more kids would be learning about drinking responsibly instead of taking their first gulps under cover with other kids and it wouldn't be such a "OMG WERE BREAKING THE LAW!!!11!" novelty.

If any laws need tightening I'd say declare 21 as the age of majority for everything including driving.

I don't think the laws should be more lax, human beings are dumb, I understand the breaking the laws novelty, but it isn't about the drinking underage, it's about the driving afterwards. Even adults do this. Humans are stupid, there should be stricter punishment for those who get caught driving while drunk.

21 would be an amazing age to start licensing at, but no one would go for it, including myself, because it would be such a huge inconvenience. And I like driving lol

---------- Post added 11-04-2012 at 07:09 PM ----------

Originally Posted by admonished nonsense

The laws in America that deal with driving under the influence are lax compared to European countries. In this instance I believe the United States could learn a lesson with stricter and most importantly enforced laws. As some European countries have I believe we need to work on molding our society into one that does not tolerate drinking and driving.

We must continue to educate our teenagers about the dangerous alcohol, this is for certain. On the other hand I don't think stamping down on alcohol will work. Alcohol will always exist and will always be available. Teenagers will be teenagers. During prohibition alcohol was readily available, bootlegging was common, and the idea that prohibition was cracking down on alcohol and kept people from drinking was absurd. There was also the spectacle of Al Capone, the hijackings, gangs wars, and all of it was a bad deal. Therefore I think we have to accept that alcohol or drugs will always be tempting our children and it isn't something we can wish away. If the kids can't (and they will anyways) get alcohol they'll get something else. It'll always be available whether legally or illegally. Using prohibition as a example again... it didn't stop people from drinking by any means and instead it created a new black market. The problem with a black market verses a legal market disputes cannot be handled in court and instead generally get handled with firearms.

I believe we should focus on teaching our next generation to be responsible and cultivate a culture that stands against drunk driver through the use of stricter punishments, enforced punishments, and as elders being positive role models. Trying to restrict access to alcohol is historically not very effective. Punishment and enforcement on the other end can be.

---------- Post added 10-20-2012 at 01:32 AM ----------

I totally agree with changing the drinking age to eighteen or raising everything to twenty-one. You're either a adult or not one, right? Plus, if you can own a gun, enlist and fight for your country, sign a contract, get married, vote, buy a car, buy a house, go to college, get a loan, and all that why can't you drink? While alcohol is a massive responsibility so is enlisting, signing a binding contract, marriage, purchasing land, being an adult, legally purchasing a firearm, and so on.

More than that MLDA21 (raising the drinking age) had absolutely not effect on deaths. Like dry counties having more alcohol related issues it has counter-intuitive effects.

Anyways, link.

I wrote this when I was very much younger and have since reformed my ideas. I now realize restricting alcohol and making it illegal wont help. It must be the punishment for drinking and driving. Very well written response, I agree with all of it. Thank you ^_^

Wow didn't know this would start such a nice conversation ^_^ Thanks guys!