Presented by: Meredith Ann Avant Independence High School

From a daughter’s perspective

 Someone dies of an alcohol related motor vehicle accident ever 22 minutes.  1 out of 10 drivers every given weekend have been drinking.  Drinking and driving is one of the leading causes of deaths for ages 15 to 24.  For a family of 5 the chances of one of the family members being in an alcohol related accident in their lifetime is 200%.

 Once a month, 1 out of 10 children use alcohol at ages 12 and 13.  522 children under the age of 14 are arrested for drinking and driving in a single year.  70% of teenagers drink alcohol.  60% of all teen deaths in car accidents are alcohol related.

Drinking and driving can result in many things. Not only can you kill someone but you can also ruin your life. Many teens think it’s “cool” to drink and fit in with their friends. Is it really that cool when you get pulled over and have to go to jail? Is it really worth it? DUI’s are things that you are stuck with. For me, I live in a small town outside of Charlotte where everyone knows everyone. The second something happens, everyone knows. Is making a few wrong choices really worth losing your reputation? For many teens, judgment from others can sometimes be one of the worst consequences.

The results of a DUI can lead to many things..  Going to jail  Loss of scholarship  Denial from college  Judgment from others  Losing your license  Losing your job  Insurance rises  Criminal record

Teenagers today think that nothing could ever happen to them and that they are the exception. They are wrong because before they know it, they could be just another statistic.

I was around 7 years old when I realized that my mother had a drinking problem. I never realized how bad it was until I was in middle school. Her alcoholism led to my parents’ divorce which, of course, only made matters worse. My sister and father tried to shelter me from my mom’s problem, but I started to catch on. I watched my mom destroy herself with this disease, and I made a promise to myself that I would never resort to alcohol or any other substance to solve my problems.

As a result of drinking and driving over the past 6 years, my mother has had 3 DUI’s, has been to treatment 4 times, has totaled 3 cars, lost her license and has been to jail twice. The summer of 2010 was a turning point for my mom. I came home from vacation to find that she had totaled my sixteenth birthday present.

This jeep was my 16th birthday present that I only had for 5 months. The back seat was full of bottles and cans that she had been drinking. This was the point that changed my mother’s life after she saw how it affected me.

My mother has since then been sober and is working on rebuilding her life. She has really had a huge impact on me and is one of the reasons why I have stuck to my morals all through my high school career.

A goal I had all through high school was to make my school’s DREAM Team my senior year. We are a select group of seniors that have at least a 3.0 GPA and are good role models. We abstain from drinking, smoking, using drugs and being involved in violence. We also serve as athletic mentors at Bain Elementary.

Each month our DREAM team will focus on a different topic that we promote to our student body. December was anti-drinking month, and we took the approach on how there are more ways to have fun besides drinking which can lead to drinking and driving. DREAM Team Buy You A "Drink"

Also during anti-drinking month we managed to get a totaled car from the nearby fire department. We filled the car up with cans that represented how many people die a year from drinking and driving. This really impacted our fellow students.

Each can inside the car was there to represent the number of people who have died in alcohol related accidents yearly.

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