Tag Archive: Buzzed driving
Even Just One Drink Is Too Much
May 21, 2014
Even one drink is to much according to a study by the University of California San Diego that looked at crash data from 1994 to 2011 involving over 570,000 collisions. The study found that drivers who had a Blood Alcohol Content as low as 0.01 percent were 46 times more likely to be blamed in a crash. Read more: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/01/140116084842.htm
Preventing Underage Drinking and Driving
November 22, 2010
Underage drinking should and does pose concern for parents. Combine drinking with teens who are receiving their learner’s permits or full operators license and you have a recipe for disaster.
For parents and guardians, it will be up to them to make sure that they set the parameters and guidelines to keep their teens safe at all times. But doing so without imposing too much control and giving away too much freedom is essential. Otherwise, teens may make the wrong choices when faced with decisions, they may soon regret.
So what can be done? What can be done to help a teen from getting into preventable bad situations?
There are a few steps parents can take, including:
Get to know the parents of the teen’s friends – Acquaint yourself with the parents of your teen’s friends. Make sure you are on the same wavelength when it comes to what your expectations and parameters are for your teen. Also, treating your teen’s friends with respect or as if they are family will make them think twice before trying something irresponsible. If another parent isn’t too concerned about underage drinking, put out facts. Never argue, instead, share your concerns and the reason you have them, along with the facts and statistics on underage drinking and how it affects the teenage brain. Once they understand the science and statistics, hopefully they will change their minds.
Hide/Lock up the alcohol – Remember, out of sight, out of mind. Don’t make it easy for them to find alcohol and be irresponsible. Ask the parents of your teen’s friends to do the same. Homeowners and other adults can be held liable for what occurs in their home whether they were present or not. Be prudent and not an enabler for reckless teen behavior.
Be the example for them to follow – Be consistent in your message. Never break the rules you make or take part in illegal, unhealthy or dangerous substances or activities. Your actions are the most powerful message to your teen of what is acceptable in your family.
Limit teen driving times and vehicle access – Create and follow a parent-teen contract. Give them limits as to when they can drive a vehicle and how often they can use it. Check in often with your teen. Be sure you know how to reach them. Know where they’re going and ask whether anyone will have alcohol and if adults will be present.
Support the law – Most of the underage drinking laws have made bars and liquor establishments responsible for whatever damages an underage customer might do or incur. They are also likely to have their licenses for selling revoked, if proven to be selling to minors or someone with fake ids. Law enforcement is also cracking down on the makers of fake ids, and violators are given harsh penalties if proven guilty.
Install an anti-distracted driving mobile application – Most of these apps are designed to combat distracted driving, but they can also be used to set safe driving zones, and can alert you if a teen is going over a certain pre-approved point, like, say, a bar or known trouble area. It could also help prevent your teen from getting into a distracted driving crash.
Talk to your teen – Have a straight-up conversation about the effects of drinking and the dangers of drinking and driving. Make sure they understand the penalties, how it reflects on their legal and driving records and how that might affect them in the future. Tell them of your family’s history of alcohol and drug use, since there is a genetic predisposition towards risk of addiction. Be alert and ready to talk with your teen, when they come in at night. Ask them about how their evening went and be prepared to tackle what they share with you. Having an open conversation and understanding with teens can often do wonders for both the teen’s safety and their relationship with their parents.
Recognize and praise them when they have been responsible and demonstrated good judgment. Together with other concerned parents, many crashes that happen during the teenage years can be prevented. Be concerned and vigilant, but not overprotective. Teen drivers may seem like they are maturing to adulthood, but they are not quite there. Balancing expectations with responsibility and implementing precautions, will help to avoid the dangers of underage drinking and drinking and driving.
Learn more about Technology to Prevent Drunk Driving at the National Safety Commission.
Driver Education: How Cough Medicine Affects Driving
July 16, 2009
Many parents who warn their teens repeatedly not to use illegal drugs are unaware of the temptation and risk posed by over-the-counter medications such as cough medicine. But cough medicine provides an inexpensive, easily accessible high to one out of 11 teens, according to the Partnership for a Drug-free America. And teens are often ignorant of or in denial about the risks posed by over-the-counter medicines which, they reason, are safe and legal. A 2008 Partnership Attitude Tracking Study indicated that only 45% of teens think taking cough medicine to get high is hazardous. Teens may not consider that though dextromethorphan (DXM) is safe to take in the recommended 15-to 30-milligram dose, they are likely to consume 360 milligrams or more in the effort to get high.
The effects of overdosing on DXM include:
- Confusion
- Impaired judgment
- Blurred vision
- Slurred speech
- Dizziness
- Nausea and vomiting
- Excessive sweating
- Loss of motor control
- Dissociative (out-of-body) sensations
- Paranoia
- Hallucinations
- Irregular heartbeat
- Loss of consciousness
- Seizures
- Brain damage
- Death
The situation becomes even more dangerous when teens abuse drugs they believe are safe and then get behind the wheel. To make matters worse, many teens who experiment with using cough medicine to get high do so when they are already under the influence of another drug, such as alcohol. This intensifies the effects, and, of course, makes driving riskier.
Information on how to abuse DXM is readily available on the internet and via teens’ friends, so parents must counteract it with information of their own – and with vigilance. Here are some tips for parents:
- Familiarize yourself with the basics of cough medicine abuse. Words to watch for (on your teen’s internet history) and listen for include Dex, DXM, Robo, Robo-ing, Robo- tripping, Skittles, Skittling, Syrup, Triple-C, and Tussin. DXM is found in syrups, lozenges, tablets, capsules, and gel caps labeled DM, cough suppressant, or tuss, or include the word “tuss” in the name.
- Include discussions about the risks of abusing over-the-counter drugs in your regular talks with your teen. Explain the difference between therapeutic dosages and overdosing, as well as the effects. Tell your teen that you want to know whenever they need to take any medication for any reason.
- Lock your medicine cabinet or keep medicines that contain DXM in a location that isn’t accessible to your teen. Keep track of how much medicine is in each container. Avoid buying multiples of medicines that contain DXM; doing so can be tempting to teens, and also makes it more difficult for you to keep track of the total amount of medicine in your household.
- Observe your teen, your teen’s bedroom and bathroom, and recreational areas carefully for medicinal smells and empty cough medicine containers.
Driver Education: How Drugs Affect Driving – Inhalants
June 17, 2009
Most parents worry that their teens will get involved in illegal drugs, but some parents are unaware of one of the main determinants of whether teens will experiment with drugs – availability. Because they are legal, easily accessible household products, inhalants are one of the most commonly abused drug categories. According to the 2007 Partnership Attitude Tracking Study, 4.6 million teens have tried inhalants. After alcohol, cigarettes, and marijuana, inhalants are the most frequently-used drug by teens. According to the Drug Enforcement Administration, inhalants are one of the first substances abused by children. Though addiction is rare, inhalants can act as a gateway drug when they are replaced with other accessible substances as children age and chase the next high.
Inhalants include solvents, such as paint thinner, gasoline, and glue; gases, such as butane, propane, and nitrous oxide; and aerosol propellants. Experimentation could occur with any household product containing chemicals – spray paint, cleaning products, felt-tip marker fluid, vegetable oil spray, correction fluid. Inhalants are “sniffed” from an open container or “huffed” from a rag soaked in the substance and held to the face. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, most inhalants cause a quick high similar to alcohol intoxication. The intoxication from inhalants typically only lasts a few minutes, so users often inhale repeatedly over a period of several hours, increasing the risk of adverse effects.
Effects of inhalants include:
- stimulation
- loss of inhibition
- slurred speech
- loss of motor coordination
- headache
- nausea or vomiting
- wheezing
- loss of sensation
- loss of consciousness
- muscle cramps and weakness
- memory impairment
- weight loss
- depression
- damage to the cardiovascular and nervous systems
- sudden death, even with first-time use
Because abuse of inhalants often occurs at a friend’s house or in out-of-the-way places such as in empty parking lots and on dead-end streets, and because driving is viewed as a fun activity by teens, the danger of inhalants can be compounded when teens use inhalants and drive. The intoxication caused by inhalants can cause the same problems as driving under the influence of alcohol – impaired judgment and decision-making, risky driving behavior, and poor motor coordination.
Ensuring that teens don’t experiment with inhalants requires a high degree of vigilance on the part of the parent. Inhalants are cheap, legal and easy to obtain, often from the teen’s own home. Teens are often not aware of the risk of using inhalants, reasoning that they are harmless household products and that they are only going to be used occasionally. In fact, the 2007 Partnership Attitude Tracking Study showed that from 2001 to 2005, the number of teens who perceived inhalant use as risky decreased significantly.
Parents shouldn’t assume that if they don’t mention inhalants, it won’t occur to teens to use them. At any given time, a teen can be presented with the idea by a friend. In fact, since inhalants are often the first drug used by children, they should be one of the first drug categories parents discuss. Make sure teens know that even common household goods, such as cleaning products, can be harmful – show them the warnings on the labels about using them in well-ventilated areas, and ask them to explain how they think intentionally inhaling the fumes could harm someone. Talk about the risk of sudden death from sniffing or huffing, and ask teens to talk about how they would feel if they were with a friend who died from inhalant abuse. Opportunities for reinforcing the risks of inhalant abuse are everywhere – in driver training courses, in health education classes, in newspaper articles, and on television shows.
Restricting the availability of popular substances is also important. Clean out the garage and properly dispose of leftover chemical products. Those that must be kept should be locked in a cabinet or shed. Parents may wish to help teens avoid temptation by limiting or banning aerosol spray products such as deodorants, hairspray, fabric protector, and whipped cream. Keep a close watch on teens’ bedrooms and recreational areas for empty containers or smelly rags, especially in odd places, like under a bed or chair or in the back of a closet. Parents who suspect inhalant abuse must take action immediately.