CDC: Teens Who Say They Drink and Drive Down 54% from 1991
A new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report finds that the prevalence of drinking and driving among teenagers 16 and older declined by 54% between 1991 and 2001. Even so, CDC director Dr. Thomas R. Frieden cautions that teen drinking remains a serious problem in the United States. He noted that while “we are moving in the right direction”, one in ten teenagers still drinks and drives each month. The CDC compiled the data by asking students in grades 9 through 12 to answer an anonymous, self-adminstered questionnaire about their alcohol use. Based upon the responses, self-reported drinking and driving rates fell from 22.3% to 10.3%.