Running head: TEENS DRINKING AND DRIVING

Teens Drinking and Driving Claudia Santiesteban University of Texas at El Paso

TEENS DRINKING AND DRIVING

Every day teens die due to the cause of drinking and driving. Some have, unfortunately, passed away, leaving pain in their love ones, others have injuries that last them a lifetime, and others just spend the rest of their lives in prison. Young teens deaths are mainly caused by motor vehicle crashes, in the United States. Fortunately, teen motor vehicle crashes are preventable and proven strategies can improve the safety of young drivers on the road. As research show, in 2010, seven teens, ages sixteen to nineteen, died every day due to injuries from drunk driving accidents. Young teens, (in the same age gap), are three times more likely to get in fatal crashes, than drivers aged twenty and older. Also in 2010, about 2,700 teens in the Unites States, again between ages sixteen and nineteen, facts proved that they died, due to drunk driving accidents. Nearly 282,000 survived fatal accidents like this, just all in the year alone of 2010. As statistics show, only fourteen percent of the United States represent young teens between the age of fifteen to twenty-four, the count is that thirty percent ($14 billion) of total costs in motor vehicle injuries just among males. As for females, twenty-eight percent ($17 billion). Although, everyone is at risk, not just teens. Dont let this research fool you on just making it seem like teens are the only ones that drink and drive, but yes, they are the most prone to accidents. As mentioned before, the risk of vehicle crashes is higher among the age group of sixteen to nineteen. Researchers have also found that teen drivers that are males, the death rate involved in a motor vehicle accident, is twice of a female counterpart. A big issue is also teens driving with teen passengers. The crash risk increases if the driver is unsupervised and teens are in the vehicle, the more teens there is the greater the risk. While the risk decreases if they are being supervised. A study has shown that crash risk is particularly high during the first few

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months when the teens first get their license. It doesnt however mention if drunk driving causes these accidents. Some of the factors that put all these teens at risk are: teens are young and they dont think clearly of what can happen, or how dangerous the situation can be. Teen behavior while driving is risky, because teens like to speed, and have shorter headways (distance between cars). This behavior is more likely to increase among male teens. In 2010, male teens in the age group of fifteen and twenty, which were involved in fatal crashes, thirty-nine percent were speeding and twenty-five percent had been drinking. These numbers may not seem like much, but these are accidents that should be prevented. Also levels of blood alcohol concentration (BAC) are higher and more common between teens than any other age group. As the research continues, in 2010, twenty-two percent of drivers (age fifteen to twenty) involved in fatal crashes had somewhat of alcohol in their systems. A national survey that was done in 2011, twenty-four percent of teens reported they had been drinking, and eight percent admitted to have driven drunk, all this was recorded for just one month. In 2010, fifty-six percent of drivers (ages fifteentwenty) were killed after drinking and driving, and not wearing a seat belt. Studies have also shown that most teen accidents that involve half of teen deaths occurred between three oclock P.M. and midnight. As for Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, all in a weekend, fifty-five percent of teens lose their lives to drinking and driving. There are proven methods to helping teens become safer drivers. Research suggests that the most comprehensive graduated driver licensing (GDL) programs are associated with reductions of thirty-eight percent and forty percent in fatal and injury crashes, respectively, among sixteen-year-old drivers. GDL systems are designed to delay full licensure while allowing teens to get their initial driving experience under low-risk conditions. When parent know their

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states GDL laws, they can help enforce the laws and, in effect, help keep their teen drivers safe. Even with all these happening in the United States, teens still drink and drive. When drinking at a young age is illegal. With so many young people dying at a young age, the ones that suffer the most are their family members. They are affected not only emotionally but also physically. Think about all those that had plans with their love ones and never had the chance to persuade what they were going to do in the future. In this research (Parents Are The Key), it comes to show how parents have a huge effect on their kids, and how they drive. Providing logos and pathos through out the whole article. Ethos are provided in the whole article, making it sound clear of what the statistics are trying to get across. To the young teens that drink and drive, how young people shouldnt be drinking in the first place, and driving while intoxicated. Also, to parents providing information on how to help out their teens to make the right choices while driving.

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(N.d.). Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/motorvehiclesafety/teen_drivers/teendrivers_factsheet.html (N.d.). Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/ParentsAreTheKey/