Mollie Stanton
Feature article

My piece of writing will be a feature article on teenage drink driving and its consequences. I talk about how teenage drinking is a new social ‘norm’ and how dangerous and fatal drinking and driving is with facts and statistics. I also discuss ways of reducing the numbers of teenage drink drivers. I want the reader to realise how dangerous drinking and driving is. Hopefully my feature article changes the reader’s views and they think twice before they enter a vehicle if the driver or they themselves have been drinking.

Teenage Drinking

“Come on bro have another” said Tom’s friends. “Nah I have to drive you guys home tonight” he replies. “Nah you’ll be fine mate, just have a couple more, don’t be a loser”. That night Tom couldn’t resist the might of peer pressure. He ended up crashing into the back of another car, killing the driver, a mother and her 6 year old daughter.
We have all been in situations like Tom’s where there’s been too much alcohol consumed. But how often especially for teenagers, does this harmless fun end up in tragedy?
New Zealand has a culture where we accept risky drinking and being drunk as a social norm. Countless teenagers are attending parties every week, many of them consuming mass amounts of alcohol. These parties and events are held to have fun but alcohol consumption especially while under-age and without adult supervision, can turn into fatal and life-threatening situations. A major concern about this situation is how many of those teenagers will be driving on the road once the party has finished.
Many teenagers in society are victims of this intolerable drinking. Every day a teenager is hospitalized for incidents involved with the consumption of alcohol. New Zealand statistics show that in 2012 alcohol was a contributing factor in 73 fatal crashes, 331 serious injury crashes and 933 minor injury crashes. These crashes resulted in 93 deaths, 454 serious injuries and 1,331 minor injuries.
So, how can we change this behaviour and intoxication from happening?
Educating teenagers about the dangers of alcohol both at school and at home seems to be the favoured choice made by most. However for teenagers, friend’s opinions and the influences of their peers are rated higher than parental opinions at this time in their lives.
High schools do not educate their pupils enough to the extent where pupils realise how poisonous