Are you the parent of a teenager? If so, knowing the facts on teenage drunk driving statistics is vitally important to protecting your teen and other drivers and their passengers while on the road. Unfortunately, teenagers too often require the services of specialized DUI lawyers. Given their youthful nature, it is a fact teenagers express great enthusiasm when receiving the newfound freedom of a driver’s license. This freedom, along with the 2007 CDC statistic stating nearly half of teenagers drank alcohol in the past month, is a scary combination. Another fatally frightful factor in this equation is the CDC statistic that of these teens drinking in the past month, nearly fifty percent were “binge drinking” or consuming five or more drinks in one sitting. Almost all teenagers at one point or another generally underestimate the fact of this looming responsibility, but for teenagers that have been drinking, underestimating this responsibility of driving, and consequence of underage DUI, in addition to being illegally under the influence of alcohol, can prove life altering for not only themselves, but all others on the road as well.
Of the 194.3 million drivers licensed in the United States in the year 2002, 6.4 percent, or nearly 12.5 million fell in between the ages 16 to 20 according to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Though these teen drivers, in fact, represent a small percentage of the total American drivers, teenage drivers cause a disproportionately high percent of roadway detriments including collisions, crashes, and fatalities.
Teenage drivers accounted for some of the following statistics:
- According to the CDC in 2004, 4,767 teenagers died from fatal car crash injuries.
From the same report, almost four-hundred thousand other teenagers required medical attention from their injuries sustained in a car collision. - Teenage drivers are four times more likely to experience a motor vehicle collision than their older driving counterparts are notes the CDC.
- Forty percent of deaths for persons aged 15 to 20 stem from automobile collisions according to the CDC.
Teen drivers are responsible for twelve percent of all road-related deaths, yet only consist of less than ten percent of the population as a whole according to the Insurance Institute for Health and Safety as well as the CDC. - The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration notes twenty-three percent of teenage drivers in fatal car wrecks possessed a blood-alcohol level above the legal limit of .08.
- The economic cost of automobile accidents involving teenagers, according to a 2002 CDC report, is a staggering forty billion dollars or more annually.
Clearly, laws prevent teenagers from legally possessing, consuming, or driving under the influence of alcohol, but as reality proves, teen drinking and driving still does occur. According to SADD, nearly three-fourths of high school students consumed alcohol illegally and against the proven facts of danger prior to graduation. The government’s Office of Applied Studies branch notes that three million persons aged twelve to twenty abuse or are dependent on alcohol annually. For many of teens involved in drinking alcohol and risk taking such as driving while under the influence of alcohol, these decisions are at the very least looming indicators of future problems to come. For others, the problems, physical and legal, have already arrived in the form of teenage drunk driving arrests, auto collisions, and physical injuries or even death.
Coping with the aftermath of a teenage drunk driving arrest is difficult for teens and their parents. Seeking legal counsel to guide clients in these matters is vitally important, and an accident attorney can help. The fallout from accidents when a teenager is behind the wheel drunk do not stop at the criminal courts level, and for some parents, the financial ruin stemming from a civil trial is too much of liability to not address with their best defense. In cases such as these, an accident attorney is here to help.
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