New research shows that stronger alcohol policies can help to prevent young people from suffering fatal injuries and crashes caused by drunk driving. A study was recently published in Pediatrics and supports the importance of broad alcohol policies for minimizing the number of young individuals who pass away in alcohol-related vehicle accidents. A leading cause of death among young people in the United States can be identified with motor vehicle crashes.

Approximately 40% of fatal accidents involve drunk drivers in Massachusetts alone. Nearly half of all young individuals who die in crashes are driven by a person who has been drinking. 29 different alcohol policies were analyzed across the United States with the purpose of determining whether or not they helped to minimize alcohol consumption. Drunk driving deaths are a serious concern in the U.S.

Researchers identified that as alcohol laws within a state became more serious and limiting, the risk of a young individual being killed in a drunk driving accident decreased. This also led to less alcohol consumption as a whole. Drunk driving deaths are preventable and claim the lives of too many people every year.

Almost half of underage youth who died in alcohol-related accidents were actually passengers rather than drivers and nearly 80% of those individuals who suffered fatal injuries in drunk driving accidents were being driven by adults who were of legal drinking age who had been consuming alcohol.