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HSFPP Update # 214—One Drink Could Cost Thousands of Dollars or even your life

Message from Bob: This is our last in a three-part series related to driving and auto insurance. We know no state allows selling hard liquor under those under 21 years of age.

As you will read in this week’s story In the New$..., alcohol is the drug of choice for underage teens. We all would like to reduce alcohol use among teens, but experience shows that many teenagers will still drink, even though it’s against the law and parents tell them they will face dire consequences if they get caught. Parents might think it’s hypocritical to tell teens not to drink and then tell them what to do if they do drink. However, it could save lives for parents to say, “if you do drink, at least have a designated driver who is not drinking, or call me to pick you up since I would rather have you home alive than dead in a car accident.” As educators, we can do this.

Having an insurance agent visit your class (or having teens ask pertinent questions of an insurance agent – see “Activity Involving an Outside Insurance Professional” below) could bring this message home in a way that few other activities would. When teens see the emotional and financial impact of their actions, they might alter their behavior in a positive way. Some effort needs to be made to let teens know that, while we don’t want them to drink before they’re of age, there are worse things than being caught drinking. Teens who overestimate the trouble they’re in sometimes make the situation much worse by trying to keep it quiet.

Hopefully you saw “60 Minutes” (CBS) for February 22, 2009. Their story, “The Debate on Lowering the Drinking Age,” could generate much discussion on whether the current drinking age of 21 has helped or hurt. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/02/19/60minutes/main4813571.shtml

 

Educators: As a follow-up activity, ask an insurance agent to come in and talk about the financial consequences of a DUI/DWI conviction. Or, as an alternative, ask each teen to talk with their parent or their insurance agent, using the activity questions involving an insurance professional.

 

Supplementary Activity:

English Class: Based on what students come up with on Discussion Question # 4, have them write a short editorial for the student or local newspaper. Use facts from this week’s story In the New$... about alcohol and drunk driving, then focus on what parents and educators can do to help prevent drunk driving. This could be an extra-credit assignment, and could provide a good opportunity for students to learn about newspaper writing.

Business Education/Math Class: Have students calculate interest earned when investing $1000 annually for 10 years at 6% and 9% interest. This shows the relationship between investing and insurance, and what it will really cost teens to spend $10,000 or more on costs associated with a DUI/DWI. Instead of spending the money wastefully on fines and increased insurance, they could have invested it. This is one way that behavior can hurt your finances. An Investment Compound Interest Calculator can be found at the youngmoney.com Web site.

 

Academic Expectations:

Mathematics

Academic Expectation 2.13
Students understand and appropriately use statistics and probability.
Unit 2-6

Social Studies

Academic Expectation 2.18
Students understand economic principles and are able to make economic decisions that have consequences in daily living.
Unit 2-6

Academic Expectation 2.33
Students demonstrate the skills to evaluate and use services and Expectation resources available in their community.
Unit 2-7

Practical Living

Academic Expectation 1.2
Students make sense of the variety of materials they read.
Unit 1-7

Academic Expectation 2.29
Students demonstrate skills that promote individual well-being and healthy family relationships.
(Program material addresses risky behavior and its impact on teens)

Academic Expectation 2.31
Students demonstrate the knowledge and skills they need to remain physically healthy and to accept responsibility for their own physical well-being.
(Program material addresses the impact of risky behavior particularly related to automobile driving

 

Web Site Pick of the Week:

“Driving Under the Influence”

This interactive Web site presents students information about driving under the influence of alcohol and other drugs. Teens will learn about drunk and drugged driving, why it is a problem, and what you can do to help stop it. At the end of each chapter, there is a quiz.

 

In the New$... Alcohol 101: How to Go in Debt

 by Claire Kimberly, family studies graduate student, University of Kentucky

Several years ago I received a phone call that I will never forget. “Claire, I don’t know how to tell you this, but it’s Jeannine. She’s dead.”

Jeannine was a recent graduate from my high school. She was an energetic and beautiful girl who had a love and talent for dancing. She had come home that weekend to support her younger brother as he was recognized at the high school football game. On Sunday afternoon, she was driving back to college when a drunk driver swerved into her lane. She was killed instantly. She was only 20 years old.

Alcohol kills more young people than cocaine, heroin, and every other illegal drug combined. Nearly 75% of students have tried it, but an even bigger concern is how much young drinkers are consuming at one time. The National Longitudinal Survey of Youth shows that, of those Ages 12-17 who reported drinking alcohol, 32 percent also smoked marijuana, and 23 percent sold drugs, presumably to peers. According to former Acting Surgeon General Kenneth Moritsugu, “The 2005 National Survey on Drug Use and Health estimates there are 11 million underage drinkers in the United States. Nearly 7.2 million are considered binge drinkers, typically meaning they drank more than five drinks on occasion, and more than two million are classified as heavy drinkers.” And the more recent National Longitudinal Survey of Youth gives no reason to think the problem is going away.

Drinking is not only dangerous to your health, but is also dangerous to others when you drink and drive. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention quotes some alarming statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration: “During 2005, 16,885 people in the U.S. died in alcohol-related motor vehicle crashes, representing 39% of all traffic-related deaths (NHTSA 2006).” Also, “More than half of the 414 child passengers ages 14 and younger who died in alcohol-related crashes during 2005 were riding with the drinking driver (NHTSA 2006).” Knowing that you could be the reason that someone loses their child, brother, sister, parent, or any other loved one should be reason enough to stop you from driving under the influence or riding in a vehicle with a drunk driver. If not, then knowing that your auto insurance costs will skyrocket might help you make the wise choice.

If you are charged with a DUI, it could cost about $10,000 by the time you pay bail, fines, fees, and insurance (MSNMoney.com). This cost, though, does not include any damages. Furthermore, your insurance rates could double or triple for your entire family. Carole Walker, the executive director of the Rocky Mountain Insurance Information Association, estimated that, “If you get a DUI conviction, it will likely affect your insurance rates for (at least) the next three to five years.” You could also lose your driver’s license.

Think of having to ask for a ride whenever you need to go anywhere and not having the money to do what you want. Consider also how far $10,000 could go toward a college education; do you want to waste that kind of money needlessly? You can save yourself and your parents a great deal of money and trouble by abstaining from drugs and alcohol; or, if you’re going to drink anyway, be smart enough to call a cab or have a designated driver. Besides, you will not always be under your parents’ wings, and I know you will want to avoid bringing this kind of trouble on yourself.

Sources: (1) Doyle, C. (2008). What Science Says: Alcohol‐the Drug of Choice among Youth. The Youth Connection. Institute for Youth Development: Sterling, VA.
http://www.youthdevelopment.org/download/TheYouthConnection-November-December2008.pdf#xml=http://youthdevelopment.org.master.com/texis/master/search/mysite.txt?q=What+Science+Says%3A+Alcohol&order=r&id=a839322b68417ce9&cmd=xml

(2) “Acting Surgeon General Issues National Call to Action on Underage Drinking” [Press Release], United States Department of Health & Human Services, March 6, 2007. http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2007pres/20070306.html

(3) “Impaired Driving.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/factsheets/drving.htm

(4)“DUI: The $10,000 Ride Home,” MSN Money.
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Insurance/InsureYourCar/DUIThe$10000RideHome.aspx?page=all

(5) Adapted from Kentucky HSFPP Update # 183: Alcohol Remains Teenagers’ Drug of Choice, by Erin Burch, March 2007. http://www.ca.uky.edu/HES/fcs/HSFP/updates/2007/update0183.htm

 

Discussion Questions:

Divide into small groups and discuss the following questions:

1.) If fellow teens knew the financial consequences and the potential loss of life from drunk driving, as well as the possibility of losing their driver’s license, do you think they would stop driving while intoxicated? Why or why not?

2.) Has knowing a friend or relative was killed by a drunk driver changed your behavior or that of your fellow teens? Or do teens believe it will not happen to them, so they continue to drink and drive?

3.) Who would you feel comfortable calling for a ride if you do decide to drink and need a ride home? Or who would you feel least uncomfortable calling?

4.) What can parents do to stop their teens from driving drunk or riding with friends who are drunk? Come up with a list of at least five actions parents can take and be ready to share them with the total group.

 

Follow-up Activity for Teenagers:

Read the “Myths about Alcohol” from the Mothers Against Drunk Driving Web site: http://www.madd.org/under21/0,1056,10057,00.html

 

Follow-up Activity Involving an Outside Insurance Professional:

Ask your family’s insurance agent what the consequences might be for a DUI/DWI conviction while driving your own vehicle or your family vehicle.

1.) How much would your or your family’s premiums go up? Amount _________

2.) Would your or your family’s auto insurance coverage change as a result of a DUI?
No ____ If yes, how much ___________________________

3.) Would you or another family member lose a driver’s license as a result of a DUI?
No ___ Yes ___ (If yes, for how long?) _______

 

Kentucky High School Financial Planning Program

http://www.ca.uky.edu/fcs/hsfp

The purpose of the HSFPP financial updates, video lessons, and Web site is to assist county Extension agents, credit union educators, high school teachers, and parents who home school their teenagers so that they may improve the economic well-being of our teenagers; and also to show educators how the HSFPP, updates, and video lessons meet Kentucky core concepts. The Web site, updates, and video lessons are provided by the University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service, and are free to all educators. The list of core concepts and order form for free program materials including the student guide and instructors manual can be found on the Kentucky HSFPP home page.

If you are not already on our listserv:

The video lessons are available only to members of our listserv and will not be posted to the HSFPP Web site because of the timeliness of the information. If you would like to receive our video lessons, which are sent to our listserv biweekly, on alternate weeks from these updates, please sign up at the following page of our Web site: http://www.ca.uky.edu/fcs/HSFP/response.htm.