Impaired driving affects one in three Americans. Alcohol related crashes kill someone every 30 minutes and injure someone every two minutes. Over 1.4 million drivers were arrested in 2001 for driving under the influence of alcohol or narcotics.

York High student, Mark Goodrich (Jr.) argued, “No one realizes the consequences of drinking and driving until it’s too late.” Amber Sanford (Sr.) said, “I strongly disagree with drunk driving. If you’ve been drinking at a friend’s house, then spend the night. Don’t put your life in danger.”

Law enforcement officials are cracking down on the laws, and are continuously coming up with new ones. Over the past 20 years, impaired driving crash rates have fallen by 60% for drivers 16 and 17 years of age. These rates have also declined 55% for drivers of ages 18 to 20.

This decrease is, in part, due to sobriety checkpoints, which are traffic stops where law enforcement officers randomly select drivers to test for their alcohol impairment level. These checkpoints are popular in both Poquoson and Virginia Beach, and they continue to appear periodically throughout the York County area. Aside from drunk driving, law enforcement is equally concerned with the occurrence of reckless driving. Tracking devices are becoming more common. Costing three to four hundred dollars, these devices allow parents to spy on their children by satellite. If teens break the law, not only do they have to deal with police, their parents become equally as involved. Stickers stating “Tell-My-Mom” are being displayed on vehicles of teen drivers. There is a number on these bumper stickers, and when this number is called, other drivers have a chance to evaluate the way the teenager drives. “It’s like parents are having people spy on their kids,” said Tiera Braxton (Jr.).

Even though reckless driving is an ongoing struggle, law enforcement officials ask citizens to help them in this battle: Don’t drink and drive.