Drunken driving accidents involving underage drivers continue to be a serious hazard to those who operate motor vehicles. Drivers under the age of 21 present “a perfect storm” of accident risks combining inexperience and unrealistic assessments of one’s own driving ability with more common high risk driving activity, such as texting, driving drunk and speeding. Car accidents are the leading cause of death for teenagers with almost a third of all teen driving collisions resulting from drunk driving. There are approximately 6,000 teens killed per year in alcohol related incidents with the vast majority being alcohol impaired car accidents.
Alcohol plays a major role in many car accidents involving drivers who are under the age of 21. One major issue is that parents often are blissfully unaware of the alcohol consumption habits of their kids. Although one in five drivers under the age of 21 engage in binge drinking, less than one percent of parents believe that their kids binge drink. When alcohol is mixed with other factors, such as driving distractions like using a cell phone or interaction of multiple teenagers in the same vehicle, the risk of a serious San Francisco DUI crash is significant.
Teen alcohol awareness campaigns and stricter laws that govern drivers under 21 have helped reduce the risk of underage drunk driving accidents, including Mississippi’s recently enacted social host law. However, there is a major loophole in the social host law. Mississippi’s social host legislation was designed to permit police to arrest social hosts that serve alcohol to those who are underage. However, the Mississippi law has a significant loophole because it only makes it illegal for those under 21 to “purchase” or “possess” alcohol. In a legislative oversight, there is no prohibition on consuming alcohol, which means that when police show up at a party to enforce the law they were unable to enforce the provision against parents serving alcohol to those under 21 unless they are physically holding an alcoholic beverage.
Parents should be vigilant about monitoring their teenagers driving habits during the summer months because this is the most dangerous time for teen drivers. The highest number of underage auto accident fatalities occurs during the summer months between Labor Day and Memorial Day. Many parents dramatically liberalize the rules regarding their kids’ car use during the summer months, which can result in poor judgment by inexperienced underage drivers. If someone you love is injured or a loved one dies in a Mississippi underage driving accident, our experienced Mississippi teen driving accident attorney may be able to help you seek compensation for your injuries or loss of a loved one. At Barrett Law, our experienced Mississippi personal injury lawyers represent injury victims throughout Mississippi. Our law firm has roots that reach back 75 years so contact us today for your free initial consultation at (662) 834-2376 to see how we can help.