Underage Drinking Kills: How to Ensure Your Teenage Children Avoid Alcohol Consumption

 Posted on January 31, 2018 in Driving Safety

At Salvi & Maher L.L.C. we understand the importance of protecting one’s family, and when it comes to teenage children, ensuring the avoidance of serious injury can be a difficult proposition. Every day parents are forced to ask themselves tough questions. Yet regardless of how these questions are answered, one thing is certain: accidents do happen.

When it comes to raising teenage children, one of the toughest obstacles parents face is underage drinking. According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), 7.7 million teenage children reported drinking alcohol in 2015.

Underage Drinking Kills

Every year, alcohol plays a role in the death of over 4,0000 teenage children. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 1,580 teenage children are killed in motor vehicle collisions in which alcohol was consumed. Additionally, over 200 teenagers suffer fatal injuries from either falls, burns, drowning, or alcohol poisoning on an annual basis.

While underage drinking and driving has decreased by an encouraging 54 percent since 1991, work still needs to be done. Of all teenage motorists killed in collisions annually, roughly one-in-five carry traces of alcohol in their system.

What Can Parents Do

While ensuring that teenage children avoid alcohol consumption can be a difficult proposition, there are tactics parents can utilize in hopes of limiting their child’s alcohol indulgence.

• Look for the Signs: In order to ensure one’s teenage children do not suffer injuries related to underage drinking, it is important to know the signs of underage drinking. Has your child’s mood changed? Does he or she seem especially tightly wound and irritable? Is he or she joining unfamiliar friend groups? Has his or her academic performance dropped off? An ability to recognize the signs, which often times accompany underage drinking, can ultimately save one’s child from severe injury and even death.
• Stay Connected: In order for parents to ensure their children do not take part in dangerous activities such as underage drinking, the best option is to stay as connected to their children as possible. It is important to have the difficult conversations and educate your children on the dangers of underage binge drinking, especially driving while under the influence. Working to get to know the friend group of a teenage child can be an integral part of insuring one’s child avoids alcohol consumption.

Know Your Legal Options

In the event that your child suffers an injury related to underage alcohol consumption, it is important to know the legal options you can pursue. If your child was drinking at a friend’s house and suffered an injury, you may be able to pursue legal action due to Illinois’ social host liability law. Dealing with the aftermath of a child’s injuries can be an incredibly difficult and emotional process. For more information on your legal options, contact a compassionate Lake County personal injury attorney today at 847-662-3303 or visit us online.

Sources:

https://www.cdc.gov/vitalsigns/teendrinkinganddriving/index.html

https://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/UnderageDrinking/UnderageFact.htm