Teenage Drinking And Driving Essay

This essay represents an effective piece of argumentation. The author states her purpose by saying teens are not mature enough to handle a lower age to legally drink alcohol. Tag? Joyce Alcantara tries to convince the readers that the age to legally drink should not be altered and assumes that the audience agrees that “Our youths today are the leaders of tomorrow” (468). With that, we must protect our years ahead. Alcantara addresses her audience as if they seem uninformed, she addresses various points on why teens younger than twenty-one should not consume alcohol. Tag? The opposing audience of this argument often say if eighteen-year-olds can serve in the Army, vote, drive, and marry, why can they not legally consume

“Every year 500,000 teens are injured in a car wreck. Every year 5,000 teens die in a car wreck meaning an average of 14 teens die a day. Car crashes are the No. 1 killer of teens in the U.S. Even more than alcohol and drug abuse, violence and suicide”. Teens are always excited to earn their license and drive out on the road for the first time, but not every time will be a success, it might also be their last. I believe that teen’s cause more car crashes because they’re new to driving and don’t know the full responsibilities to the rules of the road. There are many different scenarios that lead to car wrecks, injuries and even deaths, such as texting while operating a vehicle, under the influence, and general lack of knowledge.

According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), about 1 in 10 teens in high school drink and drive. This is a lot. The CDC also states that young drivers are 17 times more likely to die in a crash when they have a blood alcohol level of .08 or above compared to when they haven’t been drinking; however, there is still some good news. Teen drinking

When the Minimum Legal Drinking Age changed to 21 years old in 1976, there was a decrease in fatal car accidents which saved approximately 21,887 lives (Alcohol Policy MD). Many lives were saved because there were less young drinkers and less people driving under the influence of alcohol. If it were possible to save lives, why wouldn’t you want to do that? An argument is made that if teenagers are allowed the responsibility to drive when they are 16 years old why can’t they drink at an earlier age? This is simply because Alcohol can put people in danger. Drunk driving seems to be a black spot of our civilization. An average of 17,000 individuals die each year in drunk driving related accidents, and drunk driving continues to be an enormously important public safety issue (MADD). With lowering this drinking age we can only expect more cases of drunk driving and more lives are put in danger. The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration estimates that about 900 lives are saved annually due to fewer alcohol-related traffic crashes involving underage drivers. Surely, it should be a priority for the society to minimize the death toll from drunk driving. A higher Minimum Legal Drinking Age (MLDA) is effective in preventing alcohol-related deaths and injuries among teenagers and youth. When the MLDA has been lowered, injury and death rates increase, and when the MLDA is increased, death and injury rates decline (Wagenaar, 1993). In addition, a common argument among opponents of a higher MLDA is that because many minors still drink and purchase alcohol, the policy isn't working on minors. The evidence shows, however, that although many youth still consume alcohol, they still drink less and experience fewer alcohol-related injuries and deaths (Wagenaar, 1993). There is also an argument comparing the European alcohol and drunk diving among the youth compared to the United

Drunk driving is not something that happens occasionally. It happens everyday of the year. A lot of times, drunk driving victims aren’t the ones who have been drinking. They could be driving home from work one day and get hit by someone who has been drinking. How would you feel if you took someones life? You would have to deal with it for the rest of your existence. However, some people believe we are making too much of drunk driving. But take a look at these statistics. 50% to 75% of people who have been convicted of drunk driving still drive with an expired license. (Johnston) When we think about drunk driving, we think about teens. Teens are not the only ones who drink and drive but they are mostly the ones who make the wrong choices when it comes to drinking. One reason why teens drink and drive is because of peer pressure. Teens often get sucked in to drinking. They feel that it is “cool” to drink and drive. The one thing that teens don’t realize is how much one drink can do. One drink can change a life or often many lives in a

However, “90% of drunk driving deaths in the United States were found in the over 21 age group” (Gruenewald). For this reason, drunk driving is not directly correlated with the drinking age. In addition, the percent of drunk driving deaths in the United States has reduced at a slower rate than European countries where they have their legal drinking age at eighteen. This suggest that if lowering the drinking age was a success in Europe, it may also be effective here in the United States to diminish the amount of drunk driving deaths. This is because people that become injured due to alcohol or alcohol poisoning are afraid to report their injuries to the hospital or authorities out of fear of illegal consequences for underage drinking. Therefore, lowering the legal drinking age encourages teenagers to assist others from the dangers of drinking and

Teens practicing their driving more in general, as well as having more experience in potential serious scenarios, would greatly help the cause. Also, teens discussing serious local accidents can make them more aware of just how possible it is for this dilemma to become their own dilemma. A foolproof way to make teens drive more safely is for their parents to make them pay their own tickets and fines (#9). Ultimately, one of the biggest influences for teens is their family, and how their families drive is no exception.

Kelly, Stark and Bert (2010) found that 7% of teenagers drank alcohol and then drove. In another study, Gamble and Clark found that 85% of all automobile accidents involving teenagers also involved alcohol. Based on these studies Kelly, Stark, and Bert concluded that programs must be developed to address the problem of teenagers who drink and drive.

December 18, 1917 the United States Congress passed the Eighteenth Amendment prohibiting the manufacturing, sales, and transportation of intoxicating liquors. March 21, 1947, the United States Congress debated again over the topic of alcohol. The result was the Twenty-first Amendment being passed. Alcohol was yet again allowed and freely sold within the borders of the United States of America (Constitution). No matter the harmful effects alcohol has always been a drug that is used, abused, and loved by countless Americans. Unfortunately, many American citizens that find comfort in alcoholic beverages are under the minimum legal drinking age of twenty-one. The United States of America, in order to protect the nation’s youth, needs to allow states

Teens have shown many signs of obvious alcohol usage. Some of those uses include, “mood changes, obnoxious behavior, and being deceitful or secretive” (Brown Unviversity1). Teens do not understand the importance of taking responsibility for their actions. Escobedo says, “more than 32% of all deaths among teens between 15-24 years are related to alcohol crashes” (979). This shows teens need to be aware of the actions drinking will cause.

In fact, the law may increase the amount of eighteen to twenty year olds who do drink. It has been shown that, especially in college-age students, there is a tendency to not do what they are told, on the contrary, they will do the exact opposite. The problem with the drinking age being twenty-one is that some students drink purely out of defiance). The number of fatalities is down in all age groups, not just teenagers, and cars driven now are much safer than the cars that were being driven in the early 1980’s, and teenagers are much safer drivers, which can be attributed to the decreased amount of fatalities. Also, in other countries that have lower drinking ages, the number of fatalities has

Traffic crash rates have been inversely related with the minimum legal drinking age since the 1970’s. Studies conducted since the 1980’s analyzed how the change in the MLDA affected the outcome of total traffic crashes for youth, drinking-driving convictions, single-vehicle nighttime crash fatalities, and alcohol problems among youth. The MLDA needs to be at 21, because 67% of the studies completed have concluded that there was a significant decrease in traffic crashes and crash fatalities when the drinking age was higher. In addition, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimated that in 1987 alone, 1,071 traffic crashes were prevented because of the MLDA of 21 (NHTSA 1989). Lower rates of death caused by vehicle crashes were found in states with higher MLDA’s throughout these various studies, and a 16% decrease in vandalism rates were observed in 4 states that raised their MLDA. Therefore, when the MLDA is higher the overall health of youth will be more protected and many lives can be

Everything you do in a car other than driving, such as talking to a passenger, singing a song, or checking your phone are all distractions which can take your mind off driving and cause an accident (Leonard). Having restrictions on new drivers has shown to decrease the amount of crashes caused by teenagers. “The researchers found that States with the most restrictive graduates licensing programs - such as those that required supervised driving teams as well as having night-driving restrictions and passenger limitations - saw a 26% reduction in the rate of fatal crashes involving 16-year-old drivers compared with states without any restriction” (Roan). Graduated licensing programs were linked to 1,348 fewer fatal crashes involving 16-year-olds. These restrictions prevent the teenagers from driving without an adult 21 or older, and with more than one passenger other than family in the car. Also, placing time restrictions on them prevents them from driving late at night when they would be very tired. Restrictions on teen driving has made it safer for everyone on the

Our lives are unbelievably valuable so we should do everything rational to avoid deaths. Nowadays, teenagers are specifically dangerous due to their recklessness and they are the ones that are more likely to commit car accidents. Delaying when they get their driver’s license, the roads will be more secure. If the age of driving is increased, the amount of car crashes will decrease. For instance, teens think that they’re fearless, which is why they take silly risks unlike mature drivers. Most teenagers think that being able to control the car while speeding means that they drive well. Increasing the driving age will significantly condense car accidents. While some people say teenagers can develop independence, the driving age should be raised to 21 because the level of obesity is high, teenagers are immature, and car accidents are increasing rapidly.

Drunk driving is the act of operating or driving a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol or drugs to the degree that mental and motor skills of the driver are impaired. Driving Under the Influence (DUI), also known as Driving While Intoxicated (DWI) is illegal and is considered as a serious crime in many countries. However the Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) limit for arresting a person may vary in different countries.