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 Hurt and Mental Health Services Administration reported to have done in at introductory one alcoholic beverage within the past 30 days. Furthermore, almost a latitude of respondents oral that they had engaged in binge drinking.
While teenagers are susceptible to the same effects of alcohol consumption as adults—delayed reaction point and impaired keenness and coordination—their scarcity 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 oldness 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. Moreover, drivers in this age cartel 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 creation 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 irked alcohol by the grow up of 15.
In happening to these statistics and fatal traffic collisions in symbolic communities, cities and the state of California have enacted laws to sway adults explainable for providing alcohol to minors. Recently, Irvine joined the Orange County cities of Undertaking Viejo and Laguna Hills when it passed an decree that will consummation in fines of between $750 and $3, 000 for binge hosts who feather alcoholic beverages to or grant their consumption by loss attendants of social crowd at fault on personal property. After a law passed in 2010, if a get-together host furnishes alcohol to a minor and that minor so causes a fatal or injury accident, the victims may take civil actions against the host.
Considering that social gatherings involving minors where alcohol is prompt are more likely to transpire in a private residence than a bar or public area, social host laws have indicative potential for reducing fatal and injury car accidents, explains a lawyer. Given that the laws in Orange County and throughout the state have only recently been enacted, it may take a few age until the impact of them is fully realized.