It’s the time of year that every school-age kid dreads—the end of summer, which means… back to school. While finishing up last-minute summer projects and gathering the necessary supplies for the school year is likely keeping your family busy enough, MADD would like to suggest one more item to add to your back to school checklist: talking with your kids about alcohol.
The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University (CASAColumbia™) recently released their 17th annual “back-to-school survey” to track attitudes of teens and those, like parents, who influence them. They surveyed 1,003 kids ages 12 to 17 with questions about school, family, social networking, their friends’ and classmates’ substance use, and their access to tobacco, alcohol, and illegal and prescription drugs.
As we expected, the results of this survey support the need for MADD’s Power of Parents™program. The program, sponsored by Nationwide Insurance, relies on research showing that parents have the power to influence their teen’s decisions about alcohol by setting expectations with your teens about alcohol use. Some key findings of the CASAColumbia survey include:
Parental expectations, particularly expressing strong disapproval of teen substance use, can be a decisive factor in a teen’s decision to drink alcohol.
Teens who say their parents would not be extremely upset if they found out they drank alcohol are almost four times more likely to have drunk alcohol (58% vs. 15%).
Teens who say their parents would not be extremely upset if their parents found out that they drink are ten times more likely to say it’s OK for teens their age to get drunk than teens who say their parents would be extremely upset (22% v. 2%).
We hope that this information will give all parents and caregivers the push they need to talk with their kids about alcohol to help keep them safe, as they head back to school. MADD has tools available that can help with this difficult discussion. Use our Power of Parents handbook to talk with you teens about not drinking alcohol until they are 21 and never getting in the car with someone who has been drinking, or visit the parent section of our website to get more tips and expert resources for talking with your kids about alcohol.
The last weeks of summer, including Labor Day weekend, can be an especially dangerous time on America’s roadways. Over Labor Day weekend in 2010, 147 people were killed in drunk driving crashes nationwide, representing 36 percent of all highway fatalities.
In an effort to get drunk drivers off the road, raise public awareness about the dangers of drunk driving, and most importantly, to save more lives on our roadways, the national impaired-driving enforcement crackdown—Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over— will be held from August 17th to September 3rd.
Supporting the heroes who keep us safe on the road is a critical part of MADD’s Campaign to Eliminate Drunk Driving®. Statistics show that when the public’s perceived risk of being arrested for impaired driving increases, the less likely they are to do so. Increased saturation or roving patrols, as well as sobriety checkpoints, remind the public of the legal consequences that can come from driving drunk.
As people across the country celebrate the end of summer this Labor Day with parades and festivals, MADD urges everyone to stay safe on the road during a time of year when drunk driving deaths typically increase. There are several ways you can help keep your loved ones safe this Labor Day holiday:
Plan for a safe way home for you and your loved ones before consuming alcohol
If you plan to be on the road during this potentially dangerous time period, please be careful, and remember to spread the word that driving impaired is simply not worth the risk, so don’t take the chance. Together with law enforcement, we can put an end to the 100 percent preventable deaths and injuries caused by drunk driving.
Friends, family and community leaders gathered in Huntington, Long Island on August 10th for the unveiling of a bronze statue of Brianna Titcomb, age 13, who was killed by a drunk driver in 2005. The statue resides in Breezy Park, which was named for Brianna. Town Supervisor Frank Petrone, along with Councilman Mark Mayoka, Michael Fleicsher of the CSH Huntington Soccer club, and Brianna’s family — John, Dawn and Brett Titcomb — gathered to thank the community for their contributions in the formation of Breezy Park.
John Titcomb, Brianna’s father, emphasized the importance of having a statue of Brianna at the park by saying, “We hope that this will stimulate discussion within families and between peers about the senseless act of distracted driving and driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol. We think this park is a statement of commitment by the community to raise awareness and change behavior that affects us all.”
The sculpture was the work of Michael Alfano, an East Meadow native who has created numerous public art works, including, "Stand Up, Speak Out," which was made with the support of the Long Island chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving.
Michael Fleischer, Frank Petrone, Titcom Family and Mark Mayoka
John Titcom, Brianna's father, speaks at the event and Family and Town Supervisor, Frank Perone, unveils the statue.
On Saturday, August 18, 1962, the Keeler family had their last fun day together as a family. They enjoyed a family picnic at a roadside park near Flint, Michigan, and afterwards, father Lester, age 38, mother Betty, age 33, sister Kimberly, age 6, and Scott, age 10, all piled into their red 1961 Bell Air Coupe. (In the early 60s seatbelts were not a standard option, and the Keeler’s car did not have them installed.)
On their drive home, they were hit by a 22-year-old male who admitted to drinking at least a six pack before driving. This crash was his eleventh offense.
Scott’s parents and sister were all thrown from the car. Betty, Scott’s mother, died instantly from multiple skull fractures and brain trauma. His sister Kimberly sustained cuts and bruises. Lester, his father, landed under the wreckage with broken ribs and collar bone, and suffered a traumatic brain injury, which changed his personality drastically; he went from being a loving family man and community leader, to somebody unable to care for his family.
Scott was trapped inside the car until a first responder noticed the crumpled little boy in the back seat. Scott was in a coma for three months and when he woke up he discovered that he was no longer the kid who had been playing with his sister and enjoying a family picnic with his parents that August day. Scott had a traumatic brain injury and was paralyzed on his left side. He had a tracheotomy to help him breathe. He was in immense pain, and recalls the nurses having to wrestle with him to get his arm in a sling, and to straighten it out. He had expressive aphasia—the inability to speak. Scott had to re-teach himself the basics: how to talk, walk, put on clothes, use the bathroom and feed himself. Due of the changes in his father as a result of the injuries sustained in the crash, Scott was passed from family member to family member before ending up in a foster home.
The drunk driver was sentenced to two years of probation and 104 weekends in jail. The judge prefaced the sentencing by stating that he “hated to pass such a strict sentence on such a fine young man.”
50 Years Later…
This crash happened before there were things like no-fault insurance, so Scott has had to pay medical bills out of pocket, which continues to be a struggle. He still has medical issues because of the crash that happened 50 years ago. Recently Scott underwent hip replacement surgery due to injuries sustained in the crash. While his is speech is still hard to understand, Scott hasn’t let the crash stop him from living, and thriving. Scott received his Masters of Social Work in 1993—he wanted to help other people and to make more money to pay his medical bills.
Scott and Stephanie at a National Crime Victims' Rights Week event.
One evening while watching the news with his wife Stephanie, they heard that the MADD chapter in Kalamazoo was being shut down. They knew they needed to do something, so Scott and Stephanie both became MADD Michigan Volunteers. Scott began volunteering for MADD in 1988, and he continues to provide help to other victims to this day. Scott helps MADD Michigan find and reach out to crash victims and he and his wife run several of the Victim Impact Panels in their area. Scott speaks to area organizations and at the VIPs about his crash and everybody he meets is touched by how much Scott has overcome. Scott is also a trained facilitator for the Power of Parents™ Workshops.
Scott feels that volunteering for MADD is the most important thing he does. Scott said, “I knew there was not a lot I could do about what happened in 1962, but I want to make things better for the people who are affected by drunk driving now and in the future. I’ve dedicated my activism in loving memory of my mother.”
We hope that this information will give all parents and caregivers the push they need to talk with their kids about alcohol to help keep them safe, as they head back to school. MADD has tools available that can help with this difficult discussion. Use our Power of Parents handbook to talk with you teens about not drinking alcohol until they are 21 and never getting in the car with someone who has been drinking, or visit the parent section of our website to get more tips and expert resources for talking with your kids about alcohol.
