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Teens ignore law, common sense by drinking, driving By MELISSA KANZ Children today hear adults lecture about drinking and driving but often those messages fall on deaf ears. According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, 3,467 drivers between the ages of 15-20 died in motor vehicle crashes in 2005. An additional 281,000 were injured. Drivers in this age group accounted for 12.6 percent of all the drivers involved in fatal crashes and 16 percent of all the drivers involved in police-reported crashes. Twenty-three percent of teen drivers killed were intoxicated. According to Pct. 4 Justice of the Peace Judy Hobbs, 98 percent of the time there are drugs or weapons at the parties where alcohol is being consumed by teens. “As a parent, that scares the pee diddly squat out of me,” Hobbs said. Texas Department of Public Safety Trooper Robbie Barerra said there are only two words that describe teenage drinking and driving - zero tolerance. “Don't possess it, drink it or be around it,” she said. “There are consequences for drinking but being dead on the side of the road is a much bigger consequence. Your child is afraid to call you ‘cause they made a bad decision. So what decision are they going to make - they're going to get behind the wheel.” Having been a teenager herself and growing up with peer pressure, Barrera said she understands what teen drivers go through on a daily basis. “I drank when I was under the age of 21. I'm not sitting here trying to be perfect and I'm going to tell you what the law is but I want you to get home safely. If you decide to drink, call your mom or dad - have a designated driver (or) something but don't get behind that wheel and drive. The consequences of your mom or dad picking you up are a lot less severe than dying in a car crash,” Barrera said. Many times children are too scared to call their parents for a ride home. “It's important not to scare our children,” she said. “Teenagers think they are invincible. My thing is to state what the law is but it's about getting them home safe no matter what decision they make.” Barrera, who has been a trooper for 13 years, has been educating children on drinking and driving for three years. “I do cover the law but it's about getting home safely,” she said. “The key is to get home safe.” Barrera referenced a drunk driving incident involving Austin resident Reggie Stephey. Stephey was 18 years old when he made the decision to get behind the wheel of a car after having only a few drinks. Stephey killed two people and burned Jacqueline Saburido, who most people recognize from DPS' “Don't Drink and Drive” public service announcements. Saburido's burned face is displayed on television, posters and the Internet. “I wish I had given him the option of calling me if he ever found himself in that circumstance. I would pray every parent remember to do that for their children,” Jean Stephey, Reggie's mother, said in an interview. “On his video he says he only had a few drinks but it was too many to drive,” Barrera said. “Teenagers are inexperienced anyway and you introduce alcohol to their system, it effects their central nervous system. Then they're really not making good judgement calls.” On Monday afternoon Hobbs' courtroom was filled with local minors - all under the age of 21 - cited for consumption of alcohol. When asked how they had gotten to the party, they responded that they had driven there or ridden with another person who also was cited for consuming alcohol. Hobbs said even when minors designate a driver, they can't always trust that the person won't drink. Hobbs recalled a court proceeding in which 20 students were in her courtroom, all facing minor in possession citations and they were all the designated drivers. Barrera said she has been on so many scenes of drunk driving fatalities, she no longer counts them. However, the first one is still a vivid memory for her - an 18-year-old Texas A&M student face down in a bar ditch. “He was the only one there and he was dead,” she said. Barrera had only been a trooper for a week when she had to tell the boy's parents their son was dead. “The hardest thing is when you have to go to a parent's home and knock on their door and tell them their child is dead because of a crash,” Barrera said. “Any time a police officer knocks on your door it's not good. No parent should have to bury a child.” Barrera said being on the scene of a drunk driving fatality never gets easier. “Anytime we see anyone dead it's hard, especially (with) children,” she said. “It's a useless act that should not have ever happened because of the laws of zero tolerance.”
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