Underage Drinking Risks And Driving Curfews For Young Drivers

By Eliza Hallabeck

Newtown High School seniors may have to make a walking entrance at prom this Saturday, May 2, while wearing dresses or tuxes, but the state Department of Motor Vehicles and the Department of Transportation along with members of the school’s Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD) group are concerned with how students will be driving to and from the event.

“Alcohol gets to your brain really quickly,” said Chris Brown, a faculty member at Southern Connecticut State University in the Graduate Department of Counseling and School Psychology and a licensed professional counselor, as he shared his presentation “The Teen Brain: Alcohol and Risky Behaviors” with students and parents on Thursday night, April 23, in the NHS Lecture Hall.

The event on Thursday night was hosted by SADD, and each student who attended the evening lecture with an adult could enter a drawing to win a free ticket to prom. Tickets for prom cost $60 per person this year and $120 for a couple.

“Putting alcohol into the mix just reduces how well you can make decisions,” Mr Brown told his audience. With the assistance of his presentation, Mr Brown walked the people in attendance through how the teenage brain is affected by alcohol.

The brain, he said, develops front to back, and the last part to develop is the portion of the brain that controls judgment and reasoning. When substances like illegal drugs or alcohol are used or consumed by a teen, the brain’s growth can be affected.

“That’s going to affect the way your brain develops,” he said.

Mr Brown told the audience, specifically the teens in attendance, that they need to have their full brain power and energy.

“I’d like to have you think about it like this,” Mr Brown said before bringing up a screen and reading from it. “Drinking alcohol is like riding in a car without a seatbelt, riding a bike without a helmet.”

The question to ask, Mr Brown said, is why people would want to take the risk of drinking alcohol.

Mr Brown said according to Connecticut Suburban Youth data compiled in 2007 by the US Surgeon General showed “when kids start to be able to drive that’s when we see the highest increase.”

One of the best protective factors in stopping teens from consuming alcohol is parents telling the children they do not want them using drugs or alcohol.

“Even one drink impairs your driving,” said Mr Brown.

A recent release by the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles and Department of Transportation said each year DMV receives questions regarding how the teen driving curfew affects students participating in high school proms and school-sponsored events afterward. These school-related activities usually end during the time when the curfew is in effect, which is from of 11 pm to 5 am for 16- and 17-year-old drivers. The curfew does not apply to drivers over 18 years old.

State law gives an exception for “school or religious activities” in Public Act 05-54. However, these are not defined in the statute and to date, no cases have come before the courts for interpretation of this language. The language is quite broad, and DMV believes that the exception was intended to cover school-sponsored or sanctioned activities, whether on school grounds or off. The exception would allow driving after curfew to or from an activity such as a prom or away game, provided that there is no intervening activity to which the student is driving, according to the DMV. This exception does not, however, apply to passenger restrictions; all laws regarding passenger restrictions remain in effect for 16- and 17-year-old drivers.