Teenagers Drinking and Driving

Picture this: a mother, father, and friends are weeping; community members shake their heads for the tragedy. Another young adult driver’s life has been taken by impaired driving. Traffic accidents continue to be the leading cause of death in the United States for young people and alcohol consumption before driving is a deadly contributor to these crashes. In a 2005 national survey of young people in the US conducted by the CDC, 1 in 10 respondents reported having driven after drinking within the last month. The consequences of teen drinking and driving are numerous and can include death and physical injury, participating in other risky behaviors, and financial loss and community loss.
According to Hingson (2003), alcohol was involved in 50% of fatal crashes and 20% of crashes resulting in serious injury. In 2005, 23% of drivers aged 15-20 years old who died in motor vehicle crashes (MVC’s) had a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.08% or above (CDC, 2008); in the majority of US states, this is above the legal limit to be driving. At a BAC of 0.08% the driver’s performance significantly decreases in areas such as glare recovery, complex visual tracking, parking, steering and braking. Even at as low a BAC as 0.02%, the driver experiences slowed reaction time and decision making processes. Each 0.02% increase in BAC doubles one’s likelihood of being in a fatal crash; that likelihood is even higher for drivers under the age of 21.
Added to the inherent danger of drinking and driving, one must consider other risky behaviors young people engage in while under the influence of alcohol. Teen drivers are much less likely to wear their seatbelts after having consumed alcohol, and are much more likely to speed. In fact, the CDC reports that in 2005, 74% of teen drivers killed in MVC’s were unrestrained and 38% were speeding.
In addition to the threats mentioned above, one could experience financial loss. For all ages, the cost of alcohol related crashes in the US in 2005 was $51 billion (CDC, 2008). If a young driver, at the very least, gets in a fender bender as a result of drinking and driving, he will have repair costs to his vehicle. At the severe end of the spectrum, a driver might be responsible for his vehicle repair costs, the vehicle repair costs of another party, and medical bills for both parties. Legal repercussions could include a fine (if not a jail sentence), and one’s insurance rates are raised for crashes.
Finally, it must be remembered that teen drinking and driving is a community problem too. Teens that make the decision to drive after drinking are members of the community. Poor decisions will affect the community negatively. As such, the community must encourage teens to make safe decisions, such as choosing to stay in one place if they choose to consume alcohol. We must all help convince teens that the costs of drinking and driving are too heavy to bear.

Alternatives to Partying

On a Friday night you and your friends are trying to find something to do and someone from your school tells you that there is a party going on out at one of your friend’s house. What do you do: take a chance at the party and maybe end up getting busted or worse get in a car wreck that could change your life forever? Well, if you do not want to take those chances here are just a few suggestions for those of you who would rather be safe than sorry.

If you just want to have a relaxing night at home with some friends then hop right over to anyone of the video stores located in your town or near your town and rent some movies. Maybe you’re into video games? Well most rental places care a variety of video games. Sit around and play Halo on the Xbox or Mario Galaxy on the Wii. Order a couple of pizzas and catch up on the latest gossip from school.

§ If you and your friends want to go out and enjoy the evening then you have several options that are available to the group.

o Dinner and a movie: In Clay County there are plenty of options for food and movie theatres. If you want a quick meal there are plenty of fast food restaurants: McDonald’s, Burger King, Taco Bell, etc. If you want to sit down and eat you can always go to Zona Rosa or down to the plaza and find any great restaurant to eat at. Zona Rosa and the Plaza have great movie theatres and if you want to drive just a little further there is a great theatre out by the Kansas Speed Way. Liberty, Kearney, and Gladstone all have their own movie theatres. There is no shortage of movie entertainment

o Dinner and some shopping: Zona, the Plaza, and The Legends out by the Speedway are all great places to grab some grub and walk around and shop. They have a huge variety of stores and they are all out door walking malls.

o Bowling: Gladstone itself has couple bowling alleys and they both have a weekend tradition of galactic bowling. So grab that white tee and go dance around in the black lights and bowl some strikes with your friends.

o Skating: There are three skating rinks in Clay County: Liberty, Excelsior Springs, and in Kansas City. They all offer extended hours on the weekend until 10:30 on Friday’s and 9:30 on Saturday.

§ During the summer there are many more options open to kids around the Clay County area.

o Worlds of Fun: You can spend all day riding the crazy rides and watching the great shows at this great amusement park for family and friends.

o Oceans of Fun: You can spend all day relaxing by the pools, sliding down the vast number of water slides, floating on the lazy river, or playing in the wave pool.

o Royals & Chiefs Games: During the hot summer there’s nothing like hanging out at the Royals games with some friends and when the fall comes around enjoy some fun with the Chiefs.

o T-Bones Games: If you rather taken in some minor league action head out to the T-Bones ball park out by the race track. They have plenty of fun and games for all ages.

o Kemper Arena: Offers a variety of concerts and shows all throughout the summer and then in the fall you can go and visit the American Royal out at Kemper.

o Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre: Offers variety of different concerts and genres to choose from throughout the spring and summer.