Underage College Drinking Leads to Severe Injuries and Death Across Campuses During Fall
Every year, students plan and prepare to head to their college campuses during the fall, whether as incoming freshmen or upperclassmen. This is usually a time when many students take risks, are open to new experiences, and make life-changing decisions. For many, their college experience may involve drinking and doing drugs after school, at football games, and at various parties on and around the campus.
For some unfortunate students, this is also a prime time to face the consequences of underage drinking and driving – from drunk driving crashes, vandalism, assault, and other violent experiences that may lead to injuries or death to others and themselves.
The Dangerous Consequences of Underage College Drinking
Unfortunately, drinking on college campuses has become an infamous ritual that most students consider an essential part of their college life. Some of them even head to college with an established drinking habit. Based on a recent national survey by The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), approximately 53% of full-time students between 18 and 22 years old drank alcohol in the previous month and almost 33% engaged in binge drinking around the same period.
The extremely dangerous consequences of underage college drinking are more destructive, costly, and significant than many students realize. Unfortunately, these consequences impact students whether they drink alcohol:
- Violent Assaults – 696,000 college students from 18 to 24 years old have experienced assault by another student who was drunk.
- Injuries and Deaths – 1,519 students from 18 to 24 years old were killed in alcohol-related injuries, including car accidents. Many students don’t fully understand how dangerous drunk driving could be. It impairs your concentration, judgment, response time, vision, tracking, and eye, hand, and foot coordination. With difficulty tracking other vehicles, pedestrians, signs, signals, and reduced reaction time, drunk drivers are not equipped to operate a vehicle safely.
- Sexual Assaults – Estimating the number of sexual assault cases involving alcohol is exceptionally difficult because this heinous crime is usually underreported. But researchers have confirmed that one in five women suffer sexual assault during college, and most cases involve alcohol or drugs.
- Academic Consequences – Approximately one in four college students experience academic consequences from drinking, such as skipping classes, lagging in class, and receiving lower grades.
- Alcohol Use Disorder – About 9% of college students have alcohol use disorder (AUD). Younger people who usually go on drinking binges have an increased risk of developing a drinking problem in the future.
Other consequences also include various health issues, suicide attempts, serious injuries, vandalism, trespassing, drunk or drugged driving, unsafe sexual behaviors, and trouble with law enforcement.
Seek Legal Guidance From a Seasoned Florida Car Accident Lawyer Now
While drunk driving and other alcohol-related accidents are frequent among college students, it’s important to note that drivers of all ages are also often guilty of impaired driving. If a drunk driver or negligent driver has injured you, contact Tragos, Sartes & Tragos to explore your legal options. You can set up your free case assessment with our Florida car accident lawyer by calling 727-441-9030 or contacting us online.