Teenagers Drinking and Driving

[PeteZaHut]

I will be a senior in high school this year, and it is a very unfortunate tradition at my school for seniors to be drunk at sporting events. This brings a difficult moral situation for me. Most of the time, they will have been drinking before the sporting event, then driving to a party afterwards to drink some more. It certainly wouldn’t be easy for me to convince them to give me their keys or to let me drive them home, especially considering the fact that more people will be drunk than I could fit in my car.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to handle situations llike this? How culpable am I when they have made the decision to drink already knowing that they would be driving later?

 

[rwoehmke]

There is more than a good chance that many of them will be under age. Be a party pooper and quietly tip off the law. You may save a few lives and you do not have to reveal your self for having done so. Don’t show up at the party though. If you do you could be assumed guilty and be hauled in with the rest. It is a tradition that needs to be made untraditional.

People of any age who drink to excess and drive are d…n fools. Don’t you be one and don’t even think about putting yourself in their company when they do this.

 

[KathleenElsie]

I will be a senior in high school this year, and it is a very unfortunate tradition at my school for seniors to be drunk at sporting events. This brings a difficult moral situation for me. Most of the time, they will have been drinking before the sporting event, then driving to a party afterward to drink some more. It certainly wouldn’t be easy for me to convince them to give me their keys or to let me drive them home, especially considering the fact that more people will be drunk than I could fit in my car.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to handle situations like this? How culpable am I when they have made the decision to drink already knowing that they would be driving later?

If you are caught with other underage drinkers even though you are not drinking you can be charged just as they are. This on your record could make it so you can not get into a good University, become a physician, teacher and many other consequences.

Call a responsible adult and ask them for a drive HOME. Friends don’t get friends into trouble. Please don’t make your family suffer for what others do or what you do.

From personal experience it is not fun when your child’s name shows up in the newspaper with your address and the pending charges listed. I just thank GOD that the newspaper did not have to list my son as dead.

 

[rayne89]

I agree with discreetly calling the police. You may also want to confidentially speak with a school counselor.

You could be saving thier life or the life of an innocent driver who happens to be in their path. Lives are taken everyday by drunk drivers. Don’t think your school mates will be spared. On top of that a young person just starting out in life could end up in prison and have to live with the knowledge they killed (or terribly injured)someone with their recklessness.

 

[rwoehmke]

I agree with discreetly calling the police. You may also want to confidentially speak with a school counselor.

You could be saving thier life or the life of an innocent driver who happens to be in their path. Lives are taken everyday by drunk drivers. Don’t think your school mates will be spared. On top of that a young person just starting out in life could end up in prison and have to live with the knowledge they killed (or terribly injured)someone with their recklessness.

Happened to a young guy just south of Minneapolis last year. He is sitting in prison as we write.

 

[StCsDavid]

Call the cops. Call your parents. And do not go to the party. While being the designated driver is a good thing, becoming that person in this case only enables under-aged drinking. If you want to be really bold, have your parents call the parents of the kids you know are at the party. I’m sure they don’t want their own kids driving drunk. You risk losing friends, but you also could very well save the life of those “friends” and the innocent bystanders you don’t even know that they might kill, too. Which is more important? Your reputation or the life of a family that was simply trying to get home when one of your drunk friends slammed into them head on?

You may need to also consider getting more friends who don’t engage in this activity.

 

[Delphinus85]

There is more than a good chance that many of them will be under age. Be a party pooper and quietly tip off the law. You may save a few lives and you do not have to reveal your self for having done so. Don’t show up at the party though. If you do you could be assumed guilty and be hauled in with the rest. It is a tradition that needs to be made untraditional.

People of any age who drink to excess and drive are d…n fools. Don’t you be one and don’t even think about putting yourself in their company when they do this.

I agree. Alert the law. You may actually end up saving a lot of lives. I know someone killed by a drunk driver. She was my younger brother’s best friend. You don’t have to tell anyone you did, but I think this is the best idea.

 

[PeteZaHut]

Do y’all think if I were to not go to the sporting event if it would be avoiding an occassion of sin or would that be wrong to purposely avoid the situation all together?

 

[rwoehmke]

Unless you are on the team, I would stay home. If are on the team, shower up and go home after the game. If this is not an official game sponsored by the school I would be feeling ill. Which when you think of what these guys are doing, you will indeed feel ill because it will be the truth.

 

[puzzleannie]

I will be a senior in high school this year, and it is a very unfortunate tradition at my school for seniors to be drunk at sporting events. This brings a difficult moral situation for me. Most of the time, they will have been drinking before the sporting event, then driving to a party afterwards to drink some more. It certainly wouldn’t be easy for me to convince them to give me their keys or to let me drive them home, especially considering the fact that more people will be drunk than I could fit in my car.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to handle situations llike this? How culpable am I when they have made the decision to drink already knowing that they would be driving later?

did not comment when I first saw this thread, but it caught my eye again. just heard this afternoon that the son of my closest friend has been killed in a head-on collision with a drunken teenage driver who crossed the centerline on a state highway. This leaves his widow and two fatherless small children, and grieving parents who have already buried one son.

the teenager unfortunately will recover and get his license back in a few months and be free to kill again unless somebody who cares about him makes him address his drinking problem.

to get drunk and get behind the wheel of a car is the moral equivalent of taking a loaded gun into a crowded shopping center and start shooting randomly. I am unable to understand, being the old biddy that I am, why anyone would want to be friends with people who do this as their regular Saturday night amusement. If I watch somebody climb into a car in this condition and do nothing, am I not guilty for not alerting the police to this menace?

 

[PeteZaHut]

I am unable to understand, being the old biddy that I am, why anyone would want to be friends with people who do this as their regular Saturday night amusement.

I understand what you are saying. I feel confident that there will be no problems with most of my friends in this situation. My high school is fairly small and very big on athletics, so practically the whole school will be at this night football game (the one I am expected the drinking problem at), so there will still be a number of my classmates there that I know fairly well, it being a small school, for whom I would feel responsible.

Sometimes, I feel like one of the only people I know at my age who makes decisions based on whether they are right or wrong. I think most kids my age make decisions on whether or not their act would make them feel guilty. Like drinking, they are told all the time they are not supposed to get drunk; they know it’s wrong, but it is not the kind of thing that would make them feel bad if they did it. Most of the people I know wouldn’t steal $100 from someone because they would feel bad about it afterwards, not because they just knew it was wrong. The drinking and driving I can’t explain because that would make me feel horribly guilty if I ever made that decision. But I see it most often when it comes to cheating at my school. Students are told everyday that cheating is wrong. They know it’s wrong, but it just isn’t the kind of thing they would feel that inner guilt over. I guess you just have to give everyone time to develop their conscience. I know people that have drunk driven before and will probably do it again, but they are not ill-willed. They just somehow don’t understand. I don’t think that means that I shouldn’t associate myself with them.

 

[puzzleannie]

do I understand you to say this underage drinking actually goes on at the football game, and school officials and parents know about it? you sound like a level-headed person but it sounds like a lot of the adults around you have rocks in their heads. Yeah we had our share of beer binges under the bleachers in my day, but it was searched out and stopped. Yeah and we also had our share of drunk drivers and kids who never made it to graduation because they killed themselves or someone else this way.

 

[pyropam]

My husbands grandson was killed 2 years ago at the age of 16. He had been at a party with friends and was catching a ride with a friend that was’nt as drunk as he was…

The truck flipped and Zac was killed… The friend lived. If only one of the kids had called the cops then maybe…

 

[RobHom]

cdc.gov/ncipc/factsheets/teenmvh.htm

That link is to the CDC and you will find this information and more:

**In the U.S. during 2004, 4,767 teens ages 16 to 19 died of injuries caused by motor vehicle crashes. During 2005, nearly 400,000 motor vehicle occupants in this age group sustained nonfatal injuries severe enough to require treatment in an emergency department (CDC 2006).

The risk of motor vehicle crashes is higher among 16- to 19-year-olds than among any other age group. In fact, per mile driven, teen drivers ages 16 to 19 are four times more likely than older drivers to crash (IIHS 2006).​

In 2005, teenagers accounted for 10 percent of the U.S. population and 12 percent of motor vehicle crash deaths (IIHS 2006).​

The presence of teen passengers increases the crash risk of unsupervised teen drivers; the risk increases with the number of teen passengers (Chen 2000).​

Further, as to the effects of “alcohol” on teens:

* At all levels of blood alcohol concentration (BAC), the risk of involvement in a motor vehicle crash is greater for teens than for older drivers (IIHS 2006).

o In 2005, 23% of drivers ages 15 to 20 who died in motor vehicle crashes had a BAC of 0.08 g/dl or higher (NHTSA 2006b).

o In a national survey conducted in 2005, nearly 30% of teens reported that within the previous month, they had ridden with a driver who had been drinking alcohol. One in ten reported having driven after drinking alcohol within the same one-month period (CDC 2006b).

o In 2005, among teen drivers who were killed in motor vehicle crashes after drinking and driving, 74% were unrestrained (NHTSA 2006b).

* In 2005, half of teen deaths from motor vehicle crashes occurred between 3 p.m. and midnight and 54% occurred on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday (IIHS 2006).

Now what this all translates to is that 1200 teenagers died in wrecks because of alcohol. Another 100,000 or more were injured severely enough to be treated at an Emergency Room or hospitalized.**

You are to be commended for being concerned about the situation. I remember when I was a young man…I though I was “bulletproof”…and all the rest… but I had friends who had wrecks, dui’s and some who were injured…including one who didn’t make it to the car…he was drunk at a party to welcome him home from Vietnam…he was 19…he dove into the shallow end of a swimming pool and broke his neck…he spent the next couple of years in traction and all that…

You do what you have to do to keep your friends out of the drivers seat. Even if it takes pulling the rotor out of the distributor, or fuses out of the panel …its best to pull the one for the starter, that way they don’t damage it.

Tell the cops…they’ll understand especially if you let them know early enough, and their presence may well provide enough of a dampener that your friends will chill out and not overdue it.

It may not seem cool to do what you have to do to protect these people, but you obviously cared enough to come and ask the question…if you need motivation…remember, there is nothing cool about a funeral for a young friend or several friends…

 

[PeteZaHut]

do I understand you to say this underage drinking actually goes on at the football game, and school officials and parents know about it? you sound like a level-headed person but it sounds like a lot of the adults around you have rocks in their heads. Yeah we had our share of beer binges under the bleachers in my day, but it was searched out and stopped. Yeah and we also had our share of drunk drivers and kids who never made it to graduation because they killed themselves or someone else this way.

no, it goes on before and after the game

 

[OneAugustKnight]

You can make an anonymous call to the police department. They will handle the problem unless the school, parents and city officials tie their hands. Which happens since drug and alcohol busts screw up the kid’s opportunities, and parents don’t like that, and the schools hate bad press when it comes to their drug and alcohol problems.

It might be a wise safety decision to not go out on game night, considering the drunk driving going on.

 

[Liberanosamalo]

Sometimes, I feel like one of the only people I know at my age who makes decisions based on whether they are right or wrong. I think most kids my age make decisions on whether or not their act would make them feel guilty.

You either have been given a better set of parents, a better education, or a better innate sense of morality.

The ones who don’t die between now and then may eventually catch up with you. I know it’s kind of lonely and isolating feeling this way. But don’t lower your standards.

Compare it to the law of physics.

You make decisions about your actions based on whether they violate the laws of physics.
Your friends make their decisions based on whether they are having fun doing it.

That’s fine in theory. But in practice, if the activity is jumping off the roof and you don’t do it, they’re the ones in trouble.

Stay smart and keep it up.

And stay away from the boozing. Do you want to live with yourself if one of those friends drives off and kills someone and you, being the one who thinks in terms of right and wrong, regrets not stopping them?

 

[vern_humphrey]

I will be a senior in high school this year, and it is a very unfortunate tradition at my school for seniors to be drunk at sporting events. This brings a difficult moral situation for me. Most of the time, they will have been drinking before the sporting event, then driving to a party afterwards to drink some more. It certainly wouldn’t be easy for me to convince them to give me their keys or to let me drive them home, especially considering the fact that more people will be drunk than I could fit in my car.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to handle situations llike this? How culpable am I when they have made the decision to drink already knowing that they would be driving later?

1. Enlist parents to help you.
2. Contact school officials.
3. Contact the police.

If necessary, write to the newspapers along this vein, “I saw X number of kids drunk at last night’s game. Most of them drove away from the game, and no one did anything about it. I’ve complained to the school and to the police, and they took no action.”

Invite your local TV station to do a story on it – they’d love it!!

 

[PeteZaHut]

You either have been given a better set of parents, a better education, or a better innate sense of morality.

I had a really amazing theology teacher my first two years of high school. He helped me completely change the way I look at my faith.

 

[puzzleannie]

no, it goes on before and after the game

where? on school grounds? in cars? in private homes? don’t parents who allow or host such parties know they can be held legally liable for any damage or injury caused by anyone, teen or not, who leaves their home drunk in a car? don’t they know they can be prosecuted for allowing alchohol to be served to a minor on their property? sounds like your community needs a reality check on state liquor laws and drunk driving laws. Maybe enlist some local insurance agents to give presentations to school and parent groups.