Time for some action

Given the Saturday, Sept. 22 car accident involving 10 area youth a glaring and growing problem has been placed in center stage — underage drinking.

It's no secret that children under the age of 21illegally consume alcohol, however the occurrence seems to have reached epidemic proportions. Underage drinking reaches a whole new level when getting behind the wheel is thrown into the mix.

I find it absolutely amazing that no one was killed from the crash that sent nearly a dozen Lincoln County youth to the hospital in the very early hours of that Sunday morning. The fact that no one was killed is only a testament to the emergency staff that responded in a split second to the scene of the crash and the staff that responded at the hospital following transport.

According to the Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD) organization, in 2005 approximately 10.8 million people between the ages of 12-20 reported drinking alcohol in the past month. Three out of every four students have consumed alcohol by the end of high school. About 41 percent of 8th-grade students have consumed alcohol.

This probably isn't that big of a surprise, especially when the resounding reason for alcohol consumption from most students living in rural areas is, "There isn't anything else to do around here."

However, motor vehicle crashes remain the number one cause of death among youth ages 15-20. In 2005, 7,460 youth were killed in a motor vehicle accident. Of those drivers, 28 percent had been drinking.

Seatbelts are freqeuntly an afterthought to a driver and passengers that have been drinking alcohol. In 2005 statistics, 64 percent of the young drivers of passenger vehicles involved in fatal crashes who had been drinking were unrestrained. Of the young drivers who had been drinking and were killed in crashes, 74 percent were not wearing seatbelts.

According to the report issued by Montana Highway Patrol Sgt. Duane Bowers, the 10 individuals involved in the vehicle crash on Sept. 22 were not wearing seatbelts.

When I was a freshman in high school, the annual senior keg, an unspoken end to the seniors' final year of school ended in tragedy. The keg party was held in the woods at a location only known to the seniors reveling in their final days of freedom before heading to college or work.

It was generally the rule that those choosing to participate in this pseudo rite of passage camped at the spot of the party to sleep off the effects of the alcohol. Although, as is usually the case, the party did not go as planned.

Two students, best friends, who had been drinking at the party all night made the split second decision that would forever alter their lives and the lives of their families when they made the decision to drive.

The driver and his best friend were traveling in a pickup truck and began driving too fast and rolled the truck. The driver lived through the crash, but his best friend was thrown from the vehicle and died from his injuries. The driver went to jail for killing his best friend.

These are incidents everyone hears about but no one believes it will actually happen to them - until it does happen to them. The 10 kids involved in the crash were extremely lucky they weren't killed during that early morning hour in the Granite Creek area.

There is no one answer to combating underage drinking and subsequent driving, but perhaps it's time for parents and community members to take more responsibility with the well-being of the youth of Lincoln County. — Erika Kirsch