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Teen drinking and driving on the decline, says CDC

10.03.2012

In its Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that the rate of drinking and driving among teenagers has dropped by more than 50 percent during the last 10 years. While more than 22 percent of youngsters over the age of 16 surveyed in 1991 said they drove while intoxicated within the previous 30 days, little more than 10 percent said likewise in 2011. Data for this study was taken from statistics provided by the National Youth Risk Behavior Surveys.

Driving under the influence has been linked to encounters with emergency department physicians who needed to administer urgent medical care due to accident-related injuries. The CDC states that alcohol is connected to 33 percent of all deaths resulting from a car crash. Although the overall rate of drunk driving has gone down in recent years, about 11,000 people are killed in drunk driving accidents annually.

According to the CDC findings, teens who get intoxicated before getting behind a wheel are 32 times more likely to be killed in a car accident than individuals of the same age who drive sober. The agency also noted that while alcohol consumption among adolescents has waned in popularity due to enhanced law enforcement, this increase in safe behavior could also relate to a decrease in overall teen driving. Citing numbers found by the survey organization Monitoring the Future, the CDC reported the amount of teenagers who said they had not driven within the week of the study went up by almost one-third between 2000 and 2010.

News source follows up on CDC findings
Reuters reported on a press conference held by the CDC to unveil the reduction of hazardous drinking and driving.

"We're moving in the right direction, but we need to keep up the momentum," said CDC director Thomas Frieden, according to the news source. "Children see how their parents drive from a young age and model that behavior. Parents are a key part of the equation here."

According to CDC data cited by Reuters, Utah had the lowest amount of youngsters drinking in driving in 2011, with only 5 percent confirming that they had driven drunk within 30 days. Meanwhile, North Dakota has the worst teenage drinking and driving problem, with almost 15 percent of their youth admitting to the behavior.

Categories: Health and Wellness