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One of the most hazardous driving behaviors teens commit is the consumption of alcoholic beverages before and during driving. In fact, more than one of every 10 young drivers involved in fatal crashes on Missouri roads in 1999 was drinking alcohol, and his or her intoxicated condition contributed to the cause of the crash.
Driving is a complicated task. It's a task that requires a driver's mind and body to work effectively.
| More than one of every 10 young drivers involved in fatal traffic crashes in 1999 on Missouri roads was drinking. |
However, alcohol interferes with driving because it impairs the driver's mental and physical abilities. Alcohol is a drug that depresses the central nervous system, slowing the activity of the brain and spinal cord. Actions that require divided attention, such as watching traffic and looking at street signs, are particularly sensitive to alcohol's effects. So are actions that require the driver to do several things at once, such as brake, shift gears, and steer into a turn. For teen-agers, who do not have much experience driving, the effects of alcohol on driving skills and abilities are even more pronounced. At low to moderate blood alcohol concentrations, young driver crash risks are substantially higher than for other drivers.
The tragic effects of alcohol use among motorists are painfully evident in the State of Missouri. And for drivers who aren't even the legal drinking age, the statistics are even more disturbing.
- In 1999, there were 8,336 Missouri drivers of motorized vehicles whose consumption of alcohol contributed to the cause of a traffic crash. Of those, 593 or 7.5 percent, were 15–18 years-olds.
- Of the total fatal traffic crashes in 1999 that involved teens, alcohol contributed to the cause of the crash in more than 12 percent of those cases. A drinking driver 15–18 years of age caused a traffic crash in the state every 14.8 hours in 1999.
- A total of 195 drinking drivers were involved in 1999 Missouri traffic crashes where one or more persons were killed. Of these drivers, 17 or 8.9 percent, were 15–18 years of age. A total of 18 people were killed in traffic crashes involving these young drivers. Of those people killed, 4 or 22 percent were the under-age drinking driver and 14 or 78 percent were some other party involved in the crash.
On a national basis, 19 percent of the young drivers involved in fatal crashes in 1998 had been drinking, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Those young drivers make up 5.3 percent of the total driving population but constitute 9 percent of the alcohol-involved drivers in fatal crashes.
One of the main problems is young people don’t realize that a person who drinks and then gets behind the wheel of a car is gambling, not just with his or her own life but with the lives of other people on the road, too. Anyone who drinks and drives takes the risk of being involved in a wreck.
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