Drinking,driving??

Goodday ppl,

I saw something very disturbing to me today and i would like your opinions regarding this..
Some kids were parked in front of a liquer store and purchasing a lot of booze which still doesn,t prove anything yet..One of them i estimated to be over the age of 18 and the others were in school uniform :confused:

Now the pickup which they got into was not far from me, about 2 spaces away..and the 18 year old got behind the wheel whilst the rest got onto the back.I could hear them speak from where i was and believe me you do not want to hear what came out of their mouths..Badmouthing their parents,cursing and swearing at bystanders and God knows what else..

MY QUESTION IS THIS Do these kids parents know where they are-NO.Does the driver show any respect or responsibility with regards to human life-NO.As for the rest of the kids on the back, dressed in school clothes-only tells me one thing NEVER AM I SENDING MY KIDS TO THAT KIND OF SCHOOL..

So you might ask what,s the moral of this story:1.Know where your kids are at all times.You might live to regret just that fact of not doing that!!Remember when you get behind the wheel of any car "YOU ARE RESPOSIBLE FOR THE OCCUPANTS"I do not think that any of us want to live to regret it..

Sorry for the long story but i was so shocked when i came upon this situation that i had to share it with someone and what better place than AO..

Thanks for letting me share it with you guys.Please let me know how you feel about this kind of thing..

vanman:D

I myself don't drink, especially when I need to drive afterwards but I do know that my parents never encouraged me to not drink alcohol. Once I got at an age that I would go out with friends to local bars and disco's, my parents just assumed (or hoped) that I was old and wise enough to make my own decisions. My parents were lucky with this leap of faith since their daughter did behave in a very responsible way. Well, most of the time anyways. :D

It's a matter of trust, I think. At one point, a child becomes old enough to start taking his or her own responsibilities. As a parent, you can't continue to watch over them. If you do try to keep a close eye on your children, then they might feel too limited by your supervision and will try to get away from it, possibly with any means possible.

Children will learn from their mistakes. But you will have to give them a chance to make any mistakes or else they won't have any chances to learn.

But it amazes me that a liquer store sells liquer to a teenage boy knowing that outside a few more kids are just waiting for Boozefest 2005. Then again, it even amazes me that some people are so interested in this mind-altering, addictive and dangerous liquid anyway...
In some countries, people get arrested for smoking one sigarette of mariuana (never done that, btw) and end up in prison for a long time while others can drink themselves into a drunken stupor every day and no one doing anything about it.

So personally, I think the same law that applies to drugs should also apply to alcohol.

I think it is a societal problem mixed in with culture, I did some growing up in the UK while my Dad was on loan to the RN as a Canadian sailor, and during that period (8yrs) He and my Mom would take us to the local pub, sit us down (my sister and brother as well, who were born there) feed us chips and orange juice while they had a few pints. So you are exposed to this at an early age, and you might think well that's a bad thing. :)

I don't believe it is, because here in North America the laws are so draconian when it comes to local bars (neighbourhood watering holes) you try to walk in with a baby and the 6'6" gorilla bouncer wants to see the baby's ID, it is only recently here in Nova Scotia that the drinking establishments that serve food allowed children in to accompany the parents, (easy on babysitting fees this way). My point is that teens are teens :confused: and what I have found over the years after raising two of my own is that teens can be rebellious (no kidding right), but that they can also do things on a whim, or a "dare", and some tend to be followers for the wrong reasons.


As for drinking and driving, we see enough of the damage that has been done to families here in Canada, the emotional damage done is incalculable to both the victims families as well as to the person responsible' s families, no one wins.IMO the car should be considered a dangerous weapon and if you drive it irresponsibly and cause the death of another person, then you should be charged with homicide, driving under the influence is akin to playing Russian Roulette, someone is going to get hurt.


Katja
I have been to Amsterdam and Aalborg, you must hold your breath when you walk into those "coffee shops" :D

greetings...

it depends on the environment. the local government should make actions on this problems...
time will come that these kids will be a big problem on your society... maybe?

Kids have been drinking underage for as long as their has been an age limit on drinking. Sure, its not good but it happens anyway. The only thing you can do it raise your kids right and with a good head on their shoulders and hope they make the right decisions... if you lock them down and monitor their every move then they will go buck wild when they get out of the parents house. You have to create a balance of trust and disapline (sp?) and hope for the best. But that said, the drinking age here in America is too high! if we can die for our country and 18 but we cant drink?! i mean come on...

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[i] Originally posted
. But that said, the drinking age here in America is too high! if we can die for our country and 18 but we cant drink?! i mean come on...

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I can relate, the age in Canada (Except Quebec) is 19, yet when we would go to sea all of the kids 17 or 18 would sit in the mess with us older tars and have a few wets, but once we got back to slackers they couldn't get in to the local pubs, at least our messes ashore would allow them a place to drink. So yeah if they are willing to commit the ultimate sacrifice for King and Queen then geez give them some beer.

(oh in case you thought I was never 17 or 18 in the Navy, wrong I joined when I was 20) :cool:

Had to laugh though when I turned 21, and we were in San Diego the other 3 lads who were with me were under 21 and couldn't get in, yet they had been drinking since 17 in the Canadian mob, boy were they pissed. :p

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Originally posted here by The Texan
Kids have been drinking underage for as long as their has been an age limit on drinking. Sure, its not good but it happens anyway. The only thing you can do it raise your kids right and with a good head on their shoulders and hope they make the right decisions.

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One thing for sure that has contributed to this whole situation in our country is the fact that compulsery military service has been suspended for a couple of years now.It just seems to me that kids who went through the 2 years of military service is more responsible or it seems that way than those who did not..
I agree with texan,it greatly depends on the parents but in the end your kids will be exposed to alcohol at some point in their lives and there is not a damm thing you can do to prevent that..so we hope and trust that we as parents have done enough for them to help them make the right decision in the end..Kids must remember they can say NO!!!

I really dont care if people drink and drive then fck'en die or what ever. Your lose for sure. My problem is that, that the person could be the one who kills me, my family, friends, or some one I know without even thinking. Drinking and driving is an open and shut case to me. If you do it, your a moron.

Well... Since I am a teenager, and I drink and smoke weed, I can say this, teenagers hate being told what to do. In fact when my dad told me not to do it and if he caught me I would be in deep ****, it made me want to do it even more... One thing is for sure, alchohol is not addictive, at least it wasn't for me :p... and Weed is not a gateway drug... Cigarettes are more of a gateway drug... The majority of my friends started smoking weed only after they started cigarettes. As for me I will never smoke cigarettes.... Cigarettes kill... smoke weed :p.

dalek, in Amsterdam you can distinquish the regular coffeeshops from the special ones since the special ones almost always have a mariuana leaf on their fronts somewhere. But in general they don't sell to underage children because that would get their shops closed.
But consider this then. Even while some drugs are legal here and maybe because of out open-mindedness, kids in the Netherlands will behave just as badly as kids in many other countries, including the USA and the UK.

Maybe that by giving older teens some responsibility of their own, they will also act in a responsible way. (But there will always be some bad seeds.) Of course, it will also depend on the cultural background of the child themselves. I can imagine that kids will do on a dare anything that their parents have forbidden. Thus if they're not allowed to smoke, they will try to smoke in secret. If they're not allowed to drink, they'll drink in secret. My parents never felt the need to forbid me to drink or smoke, just educated me about the consequences. And thus I never saw the need to start with those bad habits.

I feel people have the right to do with their own bodies whatever they like, as long as they don't cause problems for others. But someone who drinks and drives should be taken off the road ASAP and stay off.

I like the openness of the Dutch government, btw. Because things are legalized up to some level, drinking and smoking just isn't macho behaviour.

Are you not making the assumption that the driver was going to drink?

When I was younger and we wanted to go somewhere and be drunk we always had a dd. And really, putting people in the millitary is really not going to shape everyone up like you think it will. Some people are just not meant for it.

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Originally posted here by CXGJarrod
Are you not making the assumption that the driver was going to drink?

And really, putting people in the millitary is really not going to shape everyone up like you think it will.

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It is a proven statistic though and no i did not suggest that we put that legislation back in place.My whole point is that" DICIPLINE "no matter in what form or way it is implemented it works wonders...As for the driver, i really do not care if he was or wasn,t going to drink.He should have taken charge of the situation and looked after these other kids responsibly instead of trying to be the "Macho man"

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Originally posted here by The Duck
Well... Since I am a teenager, and I drink and smoke weed, I can say this, teenagers hate being told what to do. In fact when my dad told me not to do it and if he caught me I would be in deep ****, it made me want to do it even more... One thing is for sure, alchohol is not addictive, at least it wasn't for me :p... and Weed is not a gateway drug... Cigarettes are more of a gateway drug... The majority of my friends started smoking weed only after they started cigarettes. As for me I will never smoke cigarettes.... Cigarettes kill... smoke weed :p.

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What you do with your life is your right, but if you get behind the wheel under the influence (and BTW driving is a privilage not a right) then you are being irresponsible, and also negligent as you then become someone else's problem.(Police, Victim's family, Coroner,Hospital, Doctor's etc.)

Also, I don't think you have the market cornered on this 'Teen Thing" a lot of us here probably did their growing up early to late teens (myself included) during the 70's, so if you know who Cheech and Chong and Sgt Stedenko are then we are not all that different. :cool: Also a lot of us are probably thinking right now that for some of the S**t we pulled off back then why are we still alive, today.But then a Buick was a Buick and could probably go toe to toe with a semi in a headon on the highway.Cars just seemed to be built better then and could withstand quite a hit, nowadays you see some of the wrecks on the highways and you can't help but shake your head at the severity of the damage done to a car nowadays, and be amazed if anyone got out alive.

Oh and yeah Alcohol is addictive, it is a disease, it killed my Dad and it kills thousands each year so does nicotine.Alcohol

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Originally posted here by The Duck
One thing is for sure, alchohol is not addictive

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Maybe alcohol was not addictive for you and some people can control it, but it is extremely addicitve for most people who can't have just one drink, they have to drink to excess. It effects everyone around them and causes more arguements than any other drug because they can't handle it. Fights break out every weekend in towns and cities all over the UK every weekend due to alcohol and I dread to see the stats for domestic abuse caused by alcohol. Those that are admitted to hospital for treatment abuse and attack doctors and nurses who are just trying to help them.

The law here (which is an ass) states that there is a limit that you can drink and then drive, but IMO drinking and driving should not be allowed at all. What if you had one glass of wine and drove your car and knocked over and killed someone? It should not be allowed at all and this may sound harsh but I have NO sympathy for people who drink and drive and then bleat "oh but I didn't mean it" And it's not just a teen thing, I know plenty of adults who are alcoholics and some who have died before their time due to alcohol abuse. The link below explains why alcohol is addictive......

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3537387.stm

The only reason (these days) that there is a limit on blood alcohol rather than absolute 0 is that you naturally have some alcohol in your blood. Even if you have never had a drink in your life you'll still have alcohol in your blood.

Some people have more then others and it has been used as a defence in Drunk in charge (DiC - very appropriate) cases where the defendent alledged that he had a peculiar liver function which produced excess alcohol.

I think he lost and was banned. Personally I wish he had been cleared and then banned from driving for life as he would always have excess alcohol in his system. Teach him for playing the system.