Underage Drinking and Driving Continue to be a Deadly Mix

According to Century Council’s statistics, 838 drivers between 15 and 20 were killed in auto crashes involved a blood alcohol concentration of .01 or higher, accounting for 31 percent of these types of crashes. Young drivers who had a BAC of .08 accounted for 25 percent in 2008. It is also reported that more young males (26 percent) are being killed in auto crashes than young women (14 percent).

There are several factors attributing to the high auto crash fatalities among young people who drink and drive. First, young people who do drink usually consume a higher amount of alcohol at one sitting, which is known as binge drinking. Binge drinking consists of having five or more drinks consecutively. Binge drinking is also considered a usual “rite of passage” in United States. This often evolves into college drinking, when teenagers graduate from high school and continue the trend in college. Monitoring the Future performed a study in 2007 that found that 41 percent of college students binge drink.

The National Survey on Drug Use and Health conducted its survey in 2008, which says that 10.1 percent of American young people between the ages of 12 and 20 admitted to currently drinking alcohol regularly. Typically four out of ten teens had tried an alcoholic beverage at least once by the end of the eighth grade year, which increases to seven out of 10 teens by the end of high school. Reports also conclude that most of these teens do not get their alcohol from their parents, as 96 percent of them do not believe in providing alcoholic beverages to their teens.

To know how or where youth consume alcohol is an important factor. The number one factor for teenage alcohol assumption is the lack of parental or adult supervision. Approximately 71 percent of drinking done by American teens is at a party when the parents are not home. Around 61 percent is done at a friend’s house with no supervision. The third most popular spot is at a remote location, at 48 percent.

The rates of underage drinking have gone down since 2002 primarily due to organizations and community outreach programs such as The Century Council, formed in the early ’90s by the distilled spirit industry. The Century Council has initiated ad and radio campaigns to help parents and the community inform the youth about the consequences of underage drinking and drunk driving.

Alexandra Reed writes for Connecticut personal injury law firm, Stratton Faxon. Contact Stratton Faxon to speak with a Connecticut accident lawyer about your personal injury, wrongful death, or Connecticut malpractice case. To learn more, visit Strattonfaxon.com.

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