Seattle Car Accident Attorney Wants to Educate Teens About Drinking and Driving
Working as a San Diego auto accident lawyer, I have seen time and time again the ability of stricter driver laws to decrease fatal auto accidents. Perhaps no alcohol related legislation has had as much of a obvious affect as when the legal drinking age of 21 was signed into place. All states had their own legal drinking ages for decades and for forty years all states had their drinking age set at 21. During the Vietnam War, however, over twenty states dropped their drinking age which triggered a dramatic increase in drunk driving fatalities. Young drivers would start traveling to states with lower drinking ages and then drive back to their residents creating chaos along the way. President Ronald Regan, however, saved a significant number of lives by signing legislation making the nations drinking age 21. With this came a dramatic drop in the number of drunk driving fatalities. In spite of legislation having a positive effect there are still those who choose to drink and get behind the wheel, and underage drinking contributes to a significant amount of these. But what can be done besides legislation to protect your teen from the dangers of drunk driving?
With a significant number of youth being introduced to alcohol at a young age (58% of high school senior have admitted to being drunk at least once) it Is necessary for some action to be taken to help keep these teens off the roads. Car accidents are the number one cause of death for teens and 60% of these fatal car accidents involve alcohol. Though this may be disheartening to parents and make them reconsider allowing their teen behind the wheel- studies show parents can control this problem more than any law.
According to studies simply discussing alcohol and drunk driving with your teen significantly lowers their chance of using alcohol. Discussing these topics with your teens can be uncomfortable- but ultimately it will lead to better decisions and a greater peace of mind.
Talking to Your Kids About Drunk Driving, an article by Seattle car wreck lawyer Jason Epstein is full of useful tips for starting the conversation with your teen. The article also contains links to useful resources including facts and horror stories to make your teen realize the true danger they put themselves in when they drink. To learn more click on the link above.
If your life has been altered by the irresponsibility of a drunk driver be sure to contact a lawyer quickly. If you are in the San Diego area contact my car accident law firm for a free consultation- if you are in Washington state contact Jason Epstein’s Bellevue personal injury law office, Premier Law Group.
