According to the 2015 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, there were 623,000 teens aged 12 to 17 who were suffering from alcohol-related disorders across the U.S. This came to 2.5% of all those in that age group. Underage drinking is not only harming teens but also putting people on the road in danger. The CDC has shown that underage drinkers in Georgia and nationwide are more likely to drive drunk (5.5%, compared to 3.1% of those 21 or over).
When broken down by state, the number of drunk driving fatalities seems to rise the more high school students there are in that state who drink and drive. In Arkansas, for example, a startling 10.7% of high school students drink and drive, and 4.8 per 100,000 people die in drunk driving crashes: much higher than the national average of 3.4. On the other hand, 2.8% of students in Utah drink and drive, and the fatality rate is 1.7 per 100,000 people.
Arkansas had the worst statistics of all 50 states. After it came Louisiana with 10% of teens reportedly driving drunk one or more times in the past month. The best-ranked states were Idaho (6%), Arizona (6.2%) and Connecticut (6.3%). Across the nation, drunk driving is behind roughly a third of all auto accidents.
Many drunk driving crashes turn out to be fatal highway accidents. In such cases, the family of those who were killed as the result of the negligence of another motorist might want to have the help of an attorney who has experience in wrongful death lawsuits.
