Drunk Driving in Teens - Essay Example

and number] in format: 12 May 2002] Teens and Drunk Driving Contents Introduction Driving byDrunken Drivers 1 Drinking - Forbidden Fruit for Teenagers 2 Teenagers and Drunk Driving 4 Statistics of Teenage Drunk Driving 7 Prevention from Teenage Drunk Driving 8 Conclusion 9 Works Cited 12 Introduction This research paper is an argumentative research regarding the teenagers and their conditions while driving under drunken circumstances. Most of the teenagers opposed the law of drinking which is under twenty one years of age to allow an adult to buy and consume liquor. But usually, the teenagers find someway to get liquor and have it somehow off the campus or at parties with friends. Drinking is prohibited for teenagers in the United States and needs parental or guardian guidance under certain circumstances. The new adults regard drinking as forbidden fruit and find it very adventurous to drink with friends without parental or guardian guidance. This research paper would be presenting those circumstances, the thought process of teenagers, the reaction of teenagers towards drinking, and the hazards of driving after drinking. The drunk driving by the teenagers is another topic under discussion by the school systems, parents, and media because it brings lots of dangers and hazards from both safety and health point of view. The arguments for this statement would be presented in the rest of the paper. Driving by Drunken Drivers Driving is a very responsible duty but driving while being intoxicated or drunk is highly regarded as irresponsible and risky for the drivers because it increase the risk of accidents, injuries and deaths every year around the globe. Drunk driving to the limit where driving capabilities become impaired with that of driving motor vehicle is highly prohibited legally in almost every country in the world. In fact, it is a crime in most countries around the world. In some countries, for example, Canada, the prohibited amount for driving starts from Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) 80mg/100ml of blood. People get drunk in parties and friends or family gatherings and drive recklessly which is dangerous not only for the driver, but the people sitting with in the vehicle and the other pedestrians (Mittelman and Inc NetLibrary 178). Drinking - Forbidden Fruit for Teenagers The issue of drinking by the teenagers is there since centuries. It has been said that young adults used to drink buckets of ale in the Pre-Revolutionary America. At present, in the present United States, drinking publicly is prohibited for the young adults less than twenty-one years of age. This has created the image of liquor as forbidden fruit for the teenagers. The number of drunken teenagers is growing rapidly these days and it is considered very harmful for the young adults. The drinking habits of teenagers can start from occasionally at indoor family gathering (which is obviously comes under the restrict guidance of parents or guardians) and then can grab the habit of becoming habitual with friends and off campus whenever they get a chance. Although, the teenagers are not legally permitted to buy liquor from any authorized dealer or store, but they somehow find a way by bribing an adult friend who could easily buy all the required drinking materials for his young adult friends. The increasing number of drinking teenagers has increased the tension between the school systems and parents because they get highly tensed how to overcome this problem by convincing their kids not to drink liquor (Jacobs 13). The reason for extreme limit of drinking by the teenagers is because of the fact that they are not allowed to have it openly and is prohibited from their parents, guardians and school systems. This not only increased their urge to drink liquor more frequently, but they ought to take drinking as adventure while partying and having little friends' get together. The drinking slowly and gradually turns into habitual drinking which is very dangerous from the health and future aspects of the young adults (Maddox and McCall 66). In the United States, many young teenager students are reported "very drunk or sick from drinking alcohol" while being off campus with their friends. Drinking is prohibited for the teenagers because their systems are under development and needs energy to grow mentally and physically, which eventually, is affected because of the drinking habits. The young adults may become habitual drinkers if they are not being stopped from drinking frequently. It has also been reported, that alcohol affects and damages the mental capabilities and skills of the youngsters more than it does to the mature adult brains. Drinking alcohol may not only affect learning capabilities of teenagers, but it also affects their daily routine lives, social skills and related capacities of growing up. The feeling of consuming liquor might be good and adventurous for the teenagers, but it affects their physical and mental capabilities a lot if seen in the long-term. According to a survey, the alcoholic teenagers lack far behind than the normal students in respects of tests conducted verbally, non-verbally by affecting their memory, attention focusing and exercising spatial skills. According to a survey the age of frequent alcohol consumer teenagers varies from eleven (11) to fifteen (15) years. This is the age of the kids when they are bounced back from every limitation kept on them, and drinking liquor is one of them. The teenagers of 11-15 years of age find it very amusing, adventurous and a sign of bravery that they can consume alcohol and can bear its side-effects. However, their false imagination leads to any disasters and serious consequences which are not good either for the young adults, or for their parents or guardians. The pressure to prove that they are cool, attractive and tough forces these teenagers to choose between some tough and damaging choices. Teenagers and Drunk Driving (Jacobs 176) Driving is basically is an activity which facilitates humans time and comfort them by taking them from one place to another. Driving is a crucial activity which involves facilities and dangers at the same time. When a person is driving, then it is his responsibility to take care of himself, the people sitting with him in the motor vehicle, and also the pedestrians outside the vehicle. It is the utmost duty of the driver to keep a close eye on the surroundings around so that no one should get harmed. For driving safely, the driver has to put all his attention and concentration on the path and road in order to ensure a safe journey for him as well as for others. This is the reason why driving is allowed only for the individuals and people above eighteen (18) years of age. Driving is prohibited for individuals below 18 years because it is not legally allowed as the youngsters are not capable to follow the rules and regulations of driving with responsibility and an adult of 18+ years is considered responsible and elder as compared to the youngsters. Whoever becomes 18 years is suppose to learn driving from a reliable institution or elder with proven driving experience, and then after learning this skill; the newly adult is supposed to get a permit from the government of his country which allows him to drive certain motor vehicle on the roads freely without the parental or guardian guidance. This permit is usually known as the driving license (Mittelman and Inc NetLibrary 178). This entire introduction for driving tactic was necessary to be described because taking start on the topic under discussion in this research paper. With all this information provided above, it has become clear that driving is obviously not allowed to youngsters with or without parents' permission because it is a government legislation which is required to be followed by all the citizens of the country. At present, teenager drunken driving is one of the most serious and biggest problems exists in our society. It has been reported with proven sources that the amount of alcohol consumption by the youngsters is becoming far more common and frequent than ever before. They often use alcohol, drugs and intoxications more and more as it has become a traditional adventure for the nations' youth. With this intense pressure of liquor and intoxication intake, the teenagers are also accused of rash and rough driving in drunken conditions. Young adults are dangerous drivers because they belong to the high-risk group, which means that first of all, they are young and then they are totally unaware of the rules needed to drive a motor vehicle. Most of them are usually in the phase of learning the driving rules and regulations for future driving learning skills. That is why, when drunk, the teenagers consider themselves as invincible and the most incredible human being available on this planet. This feeling leads them to drive rash without following the required regulations for driving any motor vehicle, which eventually leads them to crashes and dangerous car accidents. Another reason of the roadside accidents and crashes by the youngsters is that often they are less likely to drive after drinking, but when they do, they are more inclines and likely towards crashing the motor vehicle because of the immaturity and unawareness of both alcohol and driving and the combination of the two forces against the teenagers' mental and physical systems (DuPont 150). Everyday, the number of dangerous crashes and accidents are reported which involves youngsters between the ages of 15 to 19 years of age. This has raised the ratio of tension in the national traffic control legislation, and the parents of those teenagers. This is because of the reason that driving is another adventure in which teenagers love to get involve after consuming liquor immensely, and almost 50 percent of the youngsters admit that it is their passion to drive motor vehicles on highways and roads after drinking because it makes them look attractive and outrageous in front of other friends and teenagers, and raises their poll of popularity among the youth circle. Most of these reported teenagers normally have never been behind the steering wheel before and when they get in drunken position, it makes them feel as somebody out of this world and they like to drive vehicles worse than ever. These unprofessional and unskilled young drivers go through the severe conditions of peer pressure, emotional and puberty changes while being drunk (Tim 2008). The number of young alcohol consumers is gradually increasing with the passage of time. The parents and governing bodies are unable to stop this revolution in the youth, despite all the modernizations ad advancements made in the technology sector. Statistics prove that the normal alcohol consumption by the teenagers of ages 12 to 13 is approximately 1 once per month at the most minimum ratio scale. However, there is no maximum limit available which could calculate the quantity of alcohol intake by the youngsters. Another survey shows that approximately 1,794 children of ages 14 years were died in the alcohol-related motor vehicle accidents in 2006. Apart from that, 16,005 people were reported killed in the road accidents which were underage drunk drivers in the same year. In the year 2006, more than 8,200 (55 percent) of the drivers were reported to be involved in fatal crashes who had been drinking and had BAC of .15 or greater (2006 Drunk Driving Statistics). The drunk driving by the teenagers often has lead to harmful and dangerous consequences for their future. At times, the reports made against the young teenagers bring hazardous effects in their bright future. This is considered to be very harmful in their future adult lives. The accused teenager drunk drivers usually have to go through some legal consequences or treatments; such as, stiff lines, alcohol education, probation, alcohol treatment, revocation of their driving privileges, potential jail or prison, and community service charges. All these are some examples of the charges which are charges against the act of drunk driving by the illegible teenagers (Sternheimer 127). Statistics of Teenage Drunk Driving According to a reputable online survey, the following statistics were recorded as a consequential result of drunk driving by the young adults. These statistics are presented in the following order (Goodman and Simon 98): Everyday, teenage drunk driving kills eight (8) teens on average In the year 2003, 31 percent of the drunk teenagers died in the motor vehicle accidents Overall, 40 percent of the fatal alcohol-related motor vehicle crashed includes young adults below the age of 18 years On a normal weekend evening, one driver among the 10 drivers present on the road is drunken teen driver According to a usual calculation, more than 70 percent of all the teenagers drink alcohol or take intoxications/drugs Prevention from Teenage Drunk Driving The problem of drunk driving by the teenagers exists due to several reasons, and one of the major reasons is the unawareness of their parents. Most of the kids' parents are never in the position to believe that their kid could go for drinking or driving before the permitted age. This eventually encourages the young adults to move ahead in drinking and driving drunk. The only solution to this problem is good publicity and enough awareness by the parents so that they don't have any communication gap with their children. In this way, the overall situation can be handled very peacefully and the parents can play a major and vital role in convincing the teenagers so delay their urge of drinking till the permitted age so that they could not get into other sever legal and social problems. The solution to his problem also required proper communication skills, education, awareness, stability, steadiness, access prevention to alcohol, and most of all, prevention from all the harmful things which might get the youngsters into trouble. Studies have proved that teenagers whose parents discuss alcohol-related issues with their kids are more likely to refrain from alcohol and intoxication as compared to those kids whose parents do not give a care to discuss these types of issues with their kids on regular basis. Parents should be available to their kids whenever possible because in this way, they are more close to their children as before and this helps the kids in keeping a distance from drinking and drunk driving very much, which as a result, keep the children away from many troubles and severe issues (Edwards and Lineberry and Wattenberg 67). There are some communities and leagues made against the drunk driving habits of the youngsters; such as, Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) and Students Against Destructive Decision (SADD) which provide free educations and seminar to raise awareness and maturity among the young adults to prevent alcohol and intoxications and to make their future more bright and worthy. Apart from that, the federal government of many countries has also stepped ahead in this field and has taken certain positive steps in order to minimize the affects if drunk driving by the teenagers. The governmental bodies has come up with several consequential charges according to which the charged individual youngster would have to go either through a particular treatment and charge, or even the young adult would be deprived off his driving license for a year minimum. All these steps are taken for the betterment of the youngsters and to improve their acts of socialization. Conclusion To know the reason behind the teenage drinkers and drunk drivers is hard to find, but is not impossible. The increasing number of young drunk drivers on the roads is because of the fact that there is no proper communication present between them and their parents. Apart from that, there is age factor as well according to which, the teenagers believe that hey can handle every type of situation very easily without any problem and can act like invincible and believes on the notion of personal freedom. There is no doubt that nobody forces anyone to drink and drive in this condition, it is done intentionally and personally, it just happens! A teenage driver may get pulled in by the interesting factor of drinking, or that teenager might not realistically consider the severe results of drinking and then driving. Basically, it is the peer pressure which causes them to go through all these hazards. However, the ratio of drunk drivers and accidents by the young adults has decreased with the passage of time, but there is no control over the drinking teenagers till yet. The teenagers are more likely to get influenced from liquor and get drunk whenever they get a chance. However, those teenagers who have good communication with their parents or guardians are still away from this habit and they usually get succeeded in delaying their urge for liquor and intoxication till the legal permitted age of 21 years. A positive role model, good communication, and constant vigilance are the most powerful tools parents can use to keep their teenager kids away from becoming another heartbreaking news story. Works Cited Margaret Jacobs, Australian Drug Foundation, Australian Drug Foundation; 2003, Teenage Drinking: The Facts and the Issues, Published by Australian Drug Foundation, pg13. George L. Maddox, Bevode C. McCall; 2008, Drinking Among Teen-agers: A Sociological Interpretation of Alcohol Use by High-school Students, Published by Publications Division, Rutgers Center of Alcohol Studies. Distributed by College & University Press, New Haven, Conn., p66. Tim H, 2008, Teenage Drunk Driving, Ezine Articles, ezinearticles.com, Available online at: http://ezinearticles.com/Teenage-Drunk-Driving&id=740923 2006 Drunk Driving Statistics, 2008, Alcohol Alert, Available online at: http://www.alcoholalert.com/drunk-driving-statistics.html Amy Mittelman, Inc NetLibrary; 2007, Brewing Battles: The History of American Beer, Published by Algora Publishing, p178 Robert L. DuPont, 1996, The Selfish Brain: Learning from Addiction, Published by American Psychiatric Pub, p150. James B. Jacobs, 1989, Drunk Driving: An American Dilemma, Published by University of Chicago Press, p176. Karen Sternheimer, 2006, Kids These Days: Facts and Fictions about Today's Youth, Published by Rowman & Littlefield, p127. George C. Edwards, Robert Lineberry, Martin Wattenberg; 2002, Government in America: People, Politics, and Policy, Published by Pearson Education Limited, p67. Karen Goodman, Kirk Simon; 2005, Safe Road Home: Stop Your Teen from Drinking & Driving, Published by Sterling, p98. Read More