Underage drinking and driving remains an ongoing issue, statistically proven as the leading cause of teen death. Teen drinking and driving is still a problem today. Several teenagers would prefer to take the risk of driving home rather than to just ask a friend for a ride. Underage drinking and driving is proven to be a major cause of economic expenses. Besides underage drinking and driving being the cause of economic expenses, it also is the cause of multiple other consequences. Consequences that can include jail time or can even get as bad as death.
Multiple sources argue that due to teen underage drinking and driving, decreasing by 54 percent that it isn’t still an issue today. But a decrease of 54 percent means that there is another 46 percent of teenagers out there that are still drinking and driving today. This proves the reasoning behind why drinking and driving as an underage male or female is still an ongoing issue. The Youth Risk Behavior Survey provided the statistics on underage drinking between 16 and 17 year olds, 16-year-old individuals drink at least 9 percent of the time they drive and 17 year olds drink about 14 percent of the time they are driving.
In 2011 statistics prove that nearly one million teenage drivers got behind the wheel while intoxicated. (“Teen Drinking and Driving”) The leading cause of teen death is proven to be due to teenage drinking and driving. This is proven in multiple sources. “In the United States, more than 4,700 teenage annual deaths occur” which proves that the ongoing issue of underage drinking and getting behind a wheel resides still in today’s world (Mokeyane 1).
Over the year’s teen deaths have decreased but still are continuously occurring every day. In 2014, about 2,270 teens in the United States in the 16-19 age group were killed in a motor vehicle accident which contained an intoxicated driver”, in other words six teenagers died every day in the 16-19 age group (“Teen Drivers: Get the Facts”). The risks that are taken before getting behind a wheel after drinking should be fully acknowledged. Teenage lives matter, and should not be thrown away due to reckless thinking. Each year about 10,000 people die in traffic accidents involving drivers with alcohol in the system (Gonchar 1).
Not only are there multiple fatalities that are caused by underage drinking and driving, there are also numerous of injuries which are also the consequence of getting behind the wheel intoxicated. Furthermore, drinking underage and intoxicated is highly hazardous to passengers, drivers, and innocent people whom are also on the road. Mothers Against Drunk Driving note that injuries can vary from being minor or lasting a lifetime (Mokeyane 2). In 2010, one in five teens that were involved in car accidents were proven to be intoxicate, 85 percent of these teens had over the adult alcohol limit in their systems (“Teen Drinking and Driving”).
Injuries occur a lot more than death does from driving under the influence. Injuries can be anywhere from a broken hand, to lifetime brain injuries. As an example of this, Stacey Heizer was an honors student, and took part of the varsity tennis team. She was beginning her senior year of high school in the fall of 2000, a few days before her seventeenth birthday Stacey took advantage of her free time and went driving with a few of her friends. Within a few moments later, a vehicle came flying across the center lane hitting the car and pining Stacey and lodged her retainer down her throat.
Thankfully Stacey’s friend had minor injuries and was able to rush to Stacey and cleared her airway until medical assistance was able to get to her. Emergency rescue team pried Stacey out of her car, and she was then HALO-flighted into the closest hospital where her life was saved. Stacey was unfortunately stuck in a coma for nearly three months. Stacey still struggles with her injuries today, she unfortunately ended up having traumatic brain injuries that cause her to have balance issues, a tremor in her hands, short term memory loss, and double vision.
Stacey attends rehabilitation for speech and also attends physical rehab everyday due to this accident and the outcome of her severe injuries (Heizer 1). Stacey Heizer, shows how innocent people are in danger due to an intoxicated individual who chose to get behind a wheel. This source does not provide what the intoxicated driver was faced with, but the consequences would be severe. Consequences due to driving underage and under the influence are extremely severe.
Punishment can range anywhere between death, injuries, or government related repercussions. Legal Issues that are able to occur would include fines, criminal charges, increase in insurance rates, and possession of alcohol. Being caught and charged with a Driving Under the Influence charge and can ruin one’s future. MADD states that colleges may view Driving Under the Influence charges extremely negatively and some may even decline applications and won’t allow students to attend school there.
Also these charges can mess with career choices and can ruin employment offers. Another consequence that can occur from drinking as a teenager while intoxicated would be losing one’s licenses (Mokeyane 1). “Statistics show one out of every ten teens between the ages of 12 and 13 drink alcohol at least once a month. These same young adults get a driver’s license when they turn age 16, and if they are still drinking, it may well be more than once a month” (“Teenage Drunk Driving Risks”).
In addition, these statistics show how young teenagers begin to drink, which provide the assumption to be made that teenagers will continue to drink more as they age and grow up. Due to this information, it is easy to conclude that by the driving age more teens are likely to be drinking and getting behind the wheel of a vehicle. Accidents that are caused by underage drinking also put a lot of stress on the economy budget. “Researchers with Johns Hopkins University’s Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth report that underage drinking has costs of $27 billion annually.
This includes medical care and criminal justice costs. Underage drinkers who have a car accident are responsible for not only their own vehicles but also for other vehicles involved in the crash, along with other damaged property, such as mailboxes” ( Mokeyane 2). This causes the economy budget to raise and will impact the driver and the parents. The drivers parents are legally forced to pay for any damage the underage driver has caused and aren’t able to pay. In particular underage drivers cause more accidents at lower blood alcohol levels due to various of reasons.
Many different opinions on whether the blood alcohol level should be decreased or not have been discussed. “The National Transportation Safety Board recently recommended that states lower the current blood-alcohol limit of 0. 08 percent to 0. 05 percent. Fatal accidents involving drivers who have been drinking vary sharply depending on a driver’s age and the time of day” (Fairfield 1). In that case, lowering the alcohol level will also lower the amount of accidents caused by intoxication and driving.
Moreover, innocent lives are ended due to the mistake of one getting behind the wheel after binge drinking. In 2000, on June first Helen Marie Witty was 16 years old. She belonged to three different honor societies, vice president of her class, and was a straight a student. Helen decided to go out rollerblading and take full advantage of the beautiful day. Instantly, a driver took Helen out killing her immediately. The 17 year old driver was intoxicated, and driving about 60 miles per hour on a 30 mile per hour road, At the scene of the crash, the driver’s alcohol blood level was 0. 09.
Consequently, the driver was faced with six to ten years of probation, and was forced to publically speak to students about her mistakes. In other words, intoxicated drivers end many innocent lives. Overall, drinking and driving underage is still a huge problem today. It causes economical issues, death, and various of other illegal accidents. The consequences created by this wrongdoing are extremely severe. This can be stopped by lowering the alcohol blood level for driving. Drinking and then getting behind the wheel should never be tolerated. This problem still occurs today, and needs to be put to an end.