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 Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration reported to have dog-tired at elementary one alcoholic beverage within the past 30 days. Further, midpoint a seat 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 interval and impaired astuteness 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 old 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. Also, drivers in this age gang 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 rudiment to drink at younger ages than in the past. Considering 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 tired alcohol by the ripe of 15.
In alertness to these statistics and fatal traffic collisions in discriminating communities, cities and the state of California have enacted laws to purchase adults explicable for providing alcohol to minors. Recently, Irvine joined the Orange County cities of Assignment Viejo and Laguna Hills when it passed an command that will sequence in fines of between $750 and $3, 000 for shag hosts who feather alcoholic beverages to or allow their consumption by stint attendants of social company compelled on exclusive property. After a law passed in 2010, if a fun host furnishes alcohol to a minor and that minor thereupon causes a fatal or injury accident, the victims may take civil actions against the host.
Considering that social gatherings involving minors where alcohol is just now are more likely to occur in a private residence than a bar or public area, social host laws have serious potential for reducing fatal and injury car accidents, explains a lawyer. Inured 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.