Alcohol is illegal for those under the age of 21, yet many minors drink regularly.
How minors get alcohol and where they consume it is an ongoing discussion and debate. At the Law Offices of Joe Bornstein, we see firsthand the tragedy that comes with drinking and driving.
According to studies conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, approximately 30 percent of all traffic fatalities involve alcohol. In 2015, over 10,000 people were killed in alcohol-impaired driving accidents with more than 1.1 million drivers arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol or narcotics.
For teenagers between the ages 15-20, motor vehicle accidents are the leading cause of death, with drunk driving responsible for nearly one in every four accidents. The U.S. Surgeon General estimates that approximately 5,000 people under the age of 21 die from alcohol-related injuries each year, or roughly one teen killed every hour.
The Arrive Alive Creative Contest was created to help put an end to teenage drinking and driving. If teenagers make the decision to “Arrive Alive,” injuries and fatalities caused by drunk driving will be prevented.
Here are some sobering statistics to help people of all ages make smart decisions when behind the wheel:
- An estimated three in every ten Americans will be involved in an alcohol-related crash at some time in their lives.
- Every day, 28 people in the United States die in motor vehicle accidents that involve an alcohol-impaired driver. This equates to one death every 51 minutes.
- A first time drunk driving offender on average has driven drunk 87 times prior to being arrested.
- Underage alcohol use is more likely to kill minors than all illegal drugs combined.
- 85% of teens in high school who report drinking and driving in the past month also say they binge drank. Binge drinking is defined as having five or more alcoholic drinks within a couple of hours.
- In 2015, over 2,000 teens in the United States ages 16–19 were killed and more than 220,000 were treated in emergency departments for injuries suffered in motor vehicle crashes.
- The annual cost of alcohol-related crashes totals more than $44 billion in the U.S.
Teenagers have their whole lives ahead of them. Don’t let a loved one become a statistic.
