Could Social Host Laws Prevent Fatal Alcohol - related Car Accidents Among Teens?

Could Social Host Laws Prevent Fatal Alcohol - related Car Accidents Among Teens?

In 2010, slightly more than half of Americans aged 12 or older surveyed by the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Substance Misuse and Mental Health Services Administration reported to have irked at lead off one alcoholic beverage within the past 30 days. Also, midpoint a field of respondents uttered that they had engaged in binge drinking.
While teenagers are susceptible to the same effects of alcohol consumption as adults—delayed reaction age and impaired sapience and coordination—their need of experience with operating a motor vehicle makes them more likely to crash while drinking and driving. In 2009, 30 percent of the drivers aged 16 - 20 agedness mature who were killed in motor vehicle collisions had a Blood Alcohol Content ( BAC ) of 0. 08 percent of higher, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Further, drivers in this age body with BACs of 0. 05 - 0. 08 percent are much more likely than sober teenage drivers to be killed in single - vehicle accidents.
Studies have indicated that teenagers are origin to drink at younger ages than in the past. Thanks to the average age of a teen’s first drink in 2003 was 14, it was 17 ฝ in 1965, according to the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services. In its 2007 report on underage alcohol use, the agency indicated that approximately 50 percent of adolescents had narcoleptic alcohol by the grow up of 15.
In life to these statistics and fatal traffic collisions in discriminative communities, cities and the state of California have enacted laws to clout adults accountable for providing alcohol to minors. Recently, Irvine joined the Orange County cities of Undertaking Viejo and Laguna Hills when it passed an order that will finish in fines of between $750 and $3, 000 for tea hosts who outfit alcoholic beverages to or spare their consumption by scarcity attendants of social company to blame on personal property. After a law passed in 2010, if a bee host furnishes alcohol to a minor and that minor inasmuch as causes a fatal or injury accident, the victims may take civil actions against the host.
Considering that social gatherings involving minors where alcohol is even now are more likely to eventuate in a private residence than a bar or public area, social host laws have valid potential for reducing fatal and injury car accidents, explains a lawyer. Prone that the laws in Orange County and throughout the state have only recently been enacted, it may take a few years until the impact of them is fully realized.