Drinking and Driving

 When we were younger all we cared about were our toys, cartoons, and many other things that seem meaningless to adults. Now, times have changed and all that seems to be in most of our minds are things middle-aged people do most of their lives.

In 1987, the legal drinking age was raised to 21 years of age. This law did not stop most of America’s adolescents. In 2007, Surgeon General Kenneth Moritsugu says 11 million Americans were underage drinkers. (click) The average age a female begins drinking is 14. As for males, on average, it is three years younger. The problem continues to grow as years pass. Annually, 5,000 deaths are reported to be caused by underage drinking. (click)

Alabama, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Maine, Minnesota, and ten other states have a law permitting fifteen-year-olds to drive. The word responsibility is not in most fifteen-year-olds’ vocabulary, yet they are trusted with a vehicle on the road. Car crashes are the leading cause for teenage deaths. Statistics say 5,000 teenagers between the ages of 16 and 20 die due to fatal car accidents; 400,000 are severely injured. Males are more likely to be involved in a fatal car accident as opposed to females. Teenagers, in general, are more likely to not wear seatbelts. (click) 

To combine the two seems like something you hear a celebrity serve 45 minutes of jail time for, but it happens to us normal people too, mostly underage drinkers. Between the ages of 15 and 20, 23% have died in a car accident due to underage drinking. In a survey, teenagers admit they have been in a car as a passenger with an intoxicated driver or  as the intoxicated driver.(click)

Drinking and driving: a deadly mixture that will seem to never go away.

-Ivanna M.