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Teens who drink and drive have high accident rate

On Behalf of | Jul 6, 2015 | Car Accidents

Ohio parents know that drinking and driving is not the right thing to do. They also need to make this very clear to their teenagers that driving while intoxicated is not acceptable behavior. Statistics involving teenage and young adult drunk drivers are unfortunately grim.

Teens may feel that nothing can happen to them when they get behind the wheel, but that of course is not the case. Drivers under the age of 21 account for 17 percent of fatal car accidents that involve alcohol. Approximately 2,000 underage drivers die in car accidents every year, and one-third of these deaths involve alcohol. One out of six teenagers admits to binge drinking, but only one out of every 100 parents think that their children engage in such behavior.

In most states, the DUI law is stricter for underage drivers. Generally, the legal blood alcohol content level is .08 percent for adults. It drops to .02 for underage drivers in most states, while a few states have a zero tolerance policy, meaning that teen drivers who have any alcohol at all in their system are legally drunk. Many teen drunk drivers who are in car accidents have been found to have BAC levels that are five times the legal limit.

Education is key to reducing drunk driving fatalities for teens and young adults. Since some teens may be resistant to this, parents may want to make sure they have good insurance coverage in case their teen causes a motor vehicle accident. Victims of such accidents may be eligible for compensation through a personal injury lawsuit filed against the at-fault driver. Those who have been injured may wish to obtain the assistance of an attorney when preparing and filing their claim.

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