In fact, one in three of us will, at some point in our lives, be involved in an alcohol-related crash. Every day, twenty-seven people die in America because of an easily-preventable drunk driving accident.
In 2010, 211 children were killed in accidents related to alcohol. 62 percent of them were riding with a drunk driver. Do you want your child to become one of those statistics? Worse than that, could you live with having known you killed somebody else’s child in a completely preventable accident?
The first thing to consider is not being the drunk driver yourself. Don’t get behind the wheel after that evening in the bar. Keep your teens away from alcohol. Teens are inexperienced drivers and less skilled to start with, and should not be drinking in the first place. Don’t be one of the millions of people arrested for driving while intoxicated every year. You don’t want to kill anyone, and you don’t want a DUI or DWI conviction on your record. Many of these accidents do, indeed, happen in our own backyard, Pittsburgh. There is no reason to ever drive while drunk. Find a designated driver, take a cab, or use public transportation. Don’t assume that you’re okay. The average person receiving a DUI citation has driven after drinking eighty times before they get caught. That’s a lot of people thinking they’re “okay.” The only safe amount of alcohol to drink before driving is none at all.
Avoiding DUI or DWI situations doesn’t just mean your own, however. Defensive driving training can help you avoid the other person who insists on getting behind the wheel when they shouldn’t. Normal driver education does not often go far enough. The quality of driver education provided to teenagers is also not what it could be in some areas.
Enroll yourself or your teenager, or both, in a defensive driving course. Ultimate Defensive Driving provides driver training in Pittsburgh to individuals and companies, with special courses for teens.