June 1, 2016 | By Greene Broillet & Wheeler
High school graduation season is upon us, which means that teens who have just gotten finished with high school are going to be ready to celebrate. While the celebration of that milestone is an excellent idea, the suitability of the celebration goes downhill when there is alcohol for minors involved.
Drunk driving accidents during the graduation season can easily turn a joyful time of celebration into a time that is overshadowed by sadness. The teens who are driving drunk are likely to have been at a party that wasn’t chaperoned.
Nationally, the percentage of car crashes that are associated with alcohol increases from 33 percent up to 40 percent on graduation night. That jump might not seem too dramatic, but consider this — around one-third of people who haven’t reached the legal drinking age and die in accidents are killed during graduation season. The majority of those accidents are car accidents.
While there is little that adults can do to ensure that the graduates will only drive if they are sober, each teen’s parents can make sure his or her teen is aware of the dangers of drunk driving. They can also make sure that there is a plan for a designated driver if a party is going to include alcohol.
Even with the well-documented dangers of drunk driving widely announced via public service announcements, some teens will still drink and drive. If that occurs and someone is injured, the injured person can opt to seek compensation for his or her injuries. If someone dies in the accident, the family members who are left behind might decide to file a wrongful death claim.