The number of teens who drive after drinking has been sliced in half in the past two decades, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A new study by the CDC finds that 10.3 percent of high school students in 2011 (ages 16 and older) admitted to driving after drinking in the previous 30 days. In 1991, 20.3 percent of teens reported drinking and driving. The reasons for the drop, according to CDC Director Thomas Frieden, is two-fold: For one, the minimum drinking age is now 21 across the country, and crackdowns on underage drinkers and drivers have been pretty successful. It’s also far less socially acceptable to drink and drive these days, even among the young. “There is a broader recognition that drinking and driving is not OK,” Frieden says. “If you think of the broader social change from ‘one for the road’ to ‘Friends don’t let friends drink and drive,’ that’s a major change in our society, and I think that’s one of the things that’s really driving the progress here.” That said, the CDC study suggests more than 1 million tends drink and drive: Automobile accidents are the leading cause of death for youth between the ages of 16 and 19, with more than 2,000 dying on the road each year. Alcohol is a factor in many of those deaths. (Time)
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