The problem of drinking and driving has been around for as long as I can remember. This problem is not limited to a certain age group but spans all generations. Of course, as parents, we should be concerned about our teenagers drinking and driving. I believe that the most basic of measures that we can take is to set a good example. If we go out for dinner, we should not drive if we have had a drink too many. Actually, I make it a point to NOT allow anyone who has drank more than 2 beers to drive.
Still, some things may be out of our control when it comes to drinking and driving. As much as we would like to bank on our children to stick to their values, there are times when their peers may not. Nancy Shute – you may remember her from a series of posts we had not long ago – recently wrote an article on how to curb teen drinking and driving.
She writes:
Yanking teenagers’ driver’s licenses if they’re caught using a fake ID to buy alcohol may be one of the most useful new tools in reducing the risk of drinking and driving, according to a study of state laws aimed at discouraging teenage drinking.
“Almost everyone knows that it’s illegal to use a fake ID,” says Jim Fell, a researcher at the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation in Calverton, Md., who conducted the study, published in the journal Accident Analysis and Prevention. Six states suspend licenses for using fake IDs, and those states saw the only significant reduction in drunk-driving fatalities among teenagers from 1998 to 2004, a drop of 7 percent, based on federal accident data.
I am all for this law. Though some may say that the law is too tough, I would rather have them be tough early on than show some leniency and then have my kid suffer from a drunk driver accident. What do you think?
Photo via Steve Rhode
Originally posted on July 7, 2008 @ 8:25 am
