Motor vehicle crashes are the most common cause of untimely funerals for 15 to 20 year olds. Almost 30% of the teen drivers killed had been drinking. Can anything really change these statistics? A study in the March 2001 issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research found that just five hours of school-based instruction about alcohol abuse significantly dropped serious traffic offenses among teens (by 20%) - for one year after the class. Then the effect disappeared. I hope that driver’s education and alcohol prevention become annual events in high school and college. Think how many precious lives could be saved.

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