Impaired+Driving

Driving under the influence has been a played a big part in teenage drinking. Impaired driving has been increasing since 2006 even though laws have become more strict and awareness has gone up about the dangers of impaired driving. Specifically in the youth, traffic crashes are the main cause of death relating to alcohol consumption. Researchers have been trying to figure out reasons that youth are linked the most to impaired driving as apposed to adults, a larger population able to access alcohol easier and legally.

The youth have the highest rates of binge drinking. Reasons behind this could be that teens are only able to access alcohol when their parents are not present so instead of constant drinking, they drink on weekends and holidays away from their parents. This binge drinking could also be associated to the fact the teens, especially male teens, take risks and like to push their limits. This risk taking can also be associated to driving. Young drivers do not have a lot of experience, and with when immaturity and risk taking are thrown into the equation it can result in impaired driving. A teen is more likely to think they are able to drive impaired because of this risk taking factor. Teens are not able to fully rationalize a situation, especially under the influence not only because of the lack of driving experience but because of the lack of life experience they have. This lack of life experience or maturity may be due to the fact that a lot of them have not experienced or seen real consequences because of their innocence and sheltering by parents. Smaller amounts of alcohol affect teenagers more than adults because they have not built up a tolerance like most adults. Since teenagers are shown to drink more and have less of a tolerance to this depressants effects because lack of experience in drinking, the risk of impaired driving and crashing while impaired increases. This is a result of the lack of judgment cause by the alcoholic beverage or depressant that reduces and inhibits central nervous system activity.