Adolescence, Alcohol and Driving

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The media's view of adolescence, alcohol and driving is extremely clear. Almost every article, report or documentary on these things (especially when they are combined) portrays irresponsibility, danger and/or violence and aggression. To put it more clearly the media's view on the situation that occurs or can occur when adolescents are left to make their own decisions or choices is that any given adolescent will choose to drink alcohol and most likely choose to drive while under the influence. Here are a few examples (extracted from articles, publications and the web) of how the media views adolescents, alcohol and driving: · Use of alcohol and other drugs is associated with the leading causes of death and injury (eg. vehicle crashes) among teenagers and young adults. (Centers for Disease Control {CDC}, "Alcohol and Other Drug Use Among High School Students--United States, 1990," Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report {MMWR}, 11/91, p. 776). · The total cost of alcohol use by youth--including traffic crashes, violent crime, burns, drowning, suicide attempts, fetal alcohol syndrome, alcohol poisoning and treatment--is more than $58 billion per year. (DT Levy, K Stewart, et al "Costs of Underage Drinking" {report prepared for the US Department of Justice Office of Juvenile Delinquency Prevention), Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, 7/99}). · 40% of American College students have "binged" on alcohol during the past two weeks (1999 info). (NIDA, 1999 Monitoring the Future Study, College Students and Young Adults · Young adults/adolescents ages 18-25 are most likely to binge or drink heavily. 54% of the drinkers in this age group binge and about one in four are heavy drinkers! (NIDA, 1998 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse). · Teenage drivers cause about five times as many vehicle-related deaths as middle aged drivers. · In 1996, over 17,000 people died in alcohol-related car crashes in the United States. An alarming 2,315 of them were adolescents (between 15 and 20 years old). · Almost half of all motor vehicle crashes that kill teenagers are

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