Being a teenager can be fun and exciting. During this phase, young people start to explore a new and exciting world that they didn’t notice when they were still under the age of thirteen. Drinking alcohol and driving are among the new activities that teenagers begin to explore. Unfortunately, these elements often combine into a dangerous blend of poor judgement and drunk driving.

Teenagers want to be left alone and often resent any authority figure. Doing prohibited and potentially dangerous activities like driving and drinking are exciting to them. They will often do anything they want, and combined with some peer pressure, this often results in teens driving drunk.

Are you aware of the statistics on teens and drunk driving? If you are a parent like me, you should definitely be familiar with this issue. Teens are always anxious to try alcohol and if you consider that the majority of them have poor driving skills, they are obviously heading for disaster. I can really relate to this situation.

When I was a teenager, I was also tempted to drink because everybody else was doing it. I wanted to be considered a cool guy and cool guys during my time drank a beer and drove fast cars. I was lucky not to experience any accidents because my father was smart enough to prohibit me from driving until I became more responsible.

Most teenagers these days are into alcohol and own a driver’s license. I got a big dose of this reality when my son was involved in an alcohol related incident. Although I was glad that it was not about teens and drunk driving, I wasn’t happy about the other aspects of the incident. My son and some of his friends thought that it would be fun to steal liquor from a clubhouse. Fortunately for me and the other parents, they were caught for possession, burglary, and trespassing. After this punishment doled out from this incident, I know my son and his friends will look at alcohol in a different way.

If you are concerned about teens and drunk driving because you have teenagers of your own, you can get valuable information from the World-Wide-Web. Protect your children’s future by knowing about the possible dangers of teens and drunk driving.

Morgan Hamilton offers expert advice and great tips regarding all aspects concerning Teens and Drunk Driving [http://www.kidsandteeninfo.com/info-for-kids--teens/children--teen-news/the-scourge-of-teens-and-drunk-driving.html]. Visit our site for more helpful information about Teens and Drunk Driving [http://www.kidsandteeninfo.com] and other similar topics.

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Allowing your son or daughter to throw a party… serving them alcohol after graduation from high school… allowing other minors to drink at your home – there are many scenarios where parents misunderstand the scope of underage drinking laws. It’s best to be simple: no one is allowed to drink alcohol under the age of 21, and if they do they are breaking the law. By allowing them to drink in your home, whether they’re your children or not, you are breaking the law. If someone is hurt, it is your legal responsibility and you may face charges.

Why is it like this?

Underage drinking and driving is one of the leading causes of traffic fatalities nationwide. The law was created in part to keep minors from getting into traffic accidents. While it may seem unfair that minors can pay taxes, drive, even serve in the army, and cannot drink, it’s the current law. It’s designed to protect minors from being hurt. As a parent, it may seem okay to let some drinking occur under your supervision. The laws are pretty clear that you are breaking the law.

What if you provide alcohol to minors?

If you give them alcohol, it’s breaking the law. If you allow it in your home, it is against the law, even if you did not provide it. You are then subject to criminal law penalties.

What if you’re unaware of the drinking?

This is not supposed to scare you, only to better help protect yourself. If there is drinking going on at your home and you have no knowledge, usually you will not be held liable. The fact is many from 16 to 21 do drink illegally, and a lot of parents would face charges if the laws were different. Usually you will not be held responsible, even if someone is hurt.

What if you aren’t home?

Legally, this can be complex. You can still be held liable for minor drinking if you know of the drinking. How the police prove this is up to them. The situations can vary. If the problem is a lack of supervision, you can face charges. Say for example you leave the kids home every Friday night, some drinking occurs, and someone is hurt. Because you were not properly supervising, you may face charges. In other cases, it can be proven that you were simply not at fault, did not leave your children alone, but some drinking went on.

What penalties do you face?

One example is where a parent was charged with involuntary manslaughter after hosting a party with minors where a later car accident killed several. This is how dangerous it can be. If you supply alcohol to a minor, you can face criminal prosecution. Sometimes you can even face civil penalties – such as being sued by other parents after an accident. Civil penalties can cost you large amounts in hospital fees as well as pain and suffering issues.

Who can help?

The best thing you can do is talk through the situation with your children, stop any illegal part you may have in their drinking, and be sure to properly supervise your children when they have parties at your home. It would be impossible to stop every minor from drinking before they reach the legal age. But it’s the law. If you run into some legal problems, it may be time to consult with legal representation.

Jacob Malewitz is a professional law writer. He recommends http://www.duiattorneyhome.com for DUI advice and defense.

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Cindy is 19 years old. One afternoon, she has one beer with a couple friends, and then she drives her little sister to a friend’s house. Along the way, the police stop her because a tail light is out. Guess what? She’s arrested, taken to jail, and the car is impounded. Later, she’s convicted under her state’s new Zero Tolerance law, designed to discourage teens under 21, who are not legally allowed to drink, from drinking and driving. She loses her license for a year, she has to perform 40 hours of community service, and she has to attend a driver safety course for three months. And, because a minor was in the car with her, she has to spend several days in jail.

That’s not all. After she gets her license back, Cindy has to pay four times as much for insurance as she did before her conviction. And she’ll have to pay four times the going rate for five years. That penalty alone could cost her $50,000.

She Didn’t Learn

Several years after her conviction, Cindy has another beer before she gets behind the wheel. She’s involved in a minor traffic accident caused by another driver. The police appear from nowhere, they smell beer on Cindy’s breath, and they arrest her once again. This time, Cindy’s in a heck of a lot more trouble than she was the first time. It’s her second offense in less than five years, she’s charged with Felony DUI, and she’s going to spend at least five days in jail! Not only that, but – as a convicted felon – her career prospects are severely diminished. If Cindy had planned on going to law school, or nursing school, or becoming a schoolteacher, she might find those opportunities closed to her. More likely, she’ll discover just how hard it is for a convicted felon to get a decent job.

Stiffer and Stiffer Penalties

About a third of all drivers arrested for DUI are repeat offenders, and better than 10% of drunk drivers involved in fatal crashes have been convicted of DUI within the past few years. About 15 percent of U.S. adults have driven under the influence of alcohol in the past year, and another 5% have driven under the influence of illegal drugs. The result? Penalties for DUI are getting stiffer and stiffer.

First-Time Offenders

If you’re a first-time offender, you’ll probably spend no more than a few hours or an evening in the county jail, but you’ll also face some stiff financial penalties. You could be fined anywhere from $200 to $1,200, depending on the jurisdiction. The court might order you to take a driver safety course, and you’ll have to pay for that.

On top of fines are other fees, including compensating the police and the courts, you might be required to provide community service. That could mean wearing a bright orange vest while picking up trash along a highway.

And – depending on the circumstances – you might have to spend more than a few days in jail. And you’ll need money for bail, for the cost of towing and storing your car, and for a lawyer familiar DUI cases.

It could cost you thousands of dollars to deal with the slightest offense. And it’s probably going to cost you tens of thousands of dollars in increased insurance premiums over the next five to ten years.

If Someone Is Hurt

If anyone was injured as a result of anything you did while driving under the influence, you’re probably going to jail. You could go to jail even if someone else caused the accident. And you could be sued. Your entire family could go from doing very well to being very poor because you broke the law.

Repeat Offenders

If you’re a repeat offender, this much is obvious – the first dose of punishment failed to get you to change your ways. As far as the law is concerned, you need more severe punishment.

You’ll be paying greater fines. You’ll be doing more community service. You’ll have to do without a driver’s license for several months or years.

When you get your license back, you might find it impossible to get auto insurance. And if you get caught driving without insurance, your situation goes from bad to worse.

And, of course, it’s more likely that you’ll have to spend some time – from several weeks to several months to several years – in jail. And, as mentioned earlier, you might find yourself charged with a felony, rather than a misdemeanor.

Finding Representation

Even if you have found yourself in one of these tricky situations, there is some hope. A skilled attorney who specialists in DUI and DWI cases will be able to give you the expert advice and representation you need. While it’s very likely you will have some repercussions to deal with, a law firm specializing in drunk driving cases will be able to get you the best possible outcome and could possibly have the charges dropped.

You can find your area’s highest quality legal professionals who are extremely well versed and experience with helping DUI defendants with online resource and directory Local-Attorneys. With Local-Attorneys you are matched with the absolute best local lawyers who are ready to represent you to the fullest in your upcoming legal issue. While it’s never OK to get behind the wheel after having even one drink, this article is intended to provide information and tips about common DUI scenarios, so that hopefully you think twice before you make a bad decision.

This article was written by Aaron Klimchuk, Content Manager for [http://www.local-attorneys.com/]Local-Attorneys.  Their online law firm directory helps residents in every region of the United States find high quality [http://www.local-attorneys.com/dui/]DUI and DWI legal professionals.  They also offer information on a wide variety of legal issues, which help keep involved parties educated about their upcoming case.

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Aaron Klimchuk

Director of Operations

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