Learn to Drive – Consequences of Drinking and Driving

Facts about Alcohol

Young people must learn to drive just like they must learn to drink.   Unfortunately for some  they make the mistake of drinking and driving.  The more alcohol teens drink, the less likely they are to buckle up even as a passenger or aas the driver.  80% of teens who are stilling learning to drive (15 to 20) die in car crashes where alcohol was involved, were not wearing seat belts.

Each year, drinking by college students, ages 18-24, contributes to an estimated:

• 1,700 student deaths
• almost 600,000 injuries
• almost 700,000 assaults
• 90,000+ sexual assaults
• 474,000 engaging in unprotected sex.

In 2001, 2.8 million college students drove a car while under the influence of alcohol.  (Hingson et al, 2005)

Many GDL programs have zero tolerance for alcohol.  Make this fact a part of your Drivers Ed checklist.  Look for more information in Chapter 8 of  the Workbook .

DUI stands for “driving under the influence” of alcohol (or drugs)  DUI crashes and subsequent deaths are completely avoidable.  The crashes happened because of a bad choice: to drink and drive.   Learn to drive and not drink. Learn to stop yourself and maybe even a friend.

More Scary Facts:

• Alcohol is involved in about 40% of all fatal car crashes.
• Alcohol-related crashes in the U.S. cost about $51 billion each year.
• Drivers with a blood alcohol content (BAC) of only 0.02 to 0.05 % are 7 times more likely to die in a crash than sober drivers.
• In 2006, 17,602 people in the United States were killed in an alcohol-related car crash, the same number as in 2005.
• In 2004, about 1.4 million drivers were arrested for DUIs related to alcohol or other drugs. That’s less than 1% of the 159 million times that U.S. adults say they drive under the influence each year, which means you’re sharing the roads with millions of drunk drivers who haven’t been caught. How scary?