Children as Young as 14 Caught Drink Driving

Hampshire’s road cops have a message to teenagers contemplating drink-driving - YOU will get caught

It comes as shock figures revealed that children as young as 14 (three years under the legal age for driving on public roads) are being caught drink-driving in the county.

Children’s charities say figures showing that in 2008, 2009, and 2011, drivers aged 14 were caught drink-driving are “terrifying”.


Hampshire is one of the drink-driving hotspots for under-18s in the country, with 276 offenders caught between 2008 and 2013 (74 were under the age of 16). The youngest offender in the country was just 11.


Hampshire Constabulary’s Sergeant Rob Heard said: “Interestingly the figures for 2012 and 2013 are significantly reduced by more than two thirds compared to the figure from 2008. This ongoing decline seems to demonstrate that our educational messages to young drivers are being heard clearly.
 
Jackie Ballard, chief executive at Alcohol Concern, said: “The fact young people have been illegally driving while under the influence of alcohol is terrifying. The Government has to get a grip on the fact that young people are bombarded with alcohol advertising which tells them drinking is a normal and positive thing to do and it is often available at pocket money prices. They can start to change this culture by introducing a minimum unit price and restricting alcohol advertising.”

Should Parents Let Their Kids Sip Alcohol?

According to a common line of reasoning. Early sips of alcohol and parental supervision of drinking can protect children from alcohol abuse later,  As evidence of this many parents point to Europe, where legal drinking ages are lower or unenforced, and table wine flows at every meal.

In a recent report, experts on addiction compiled evidence on alcohol sipping among children and attempted to link it with statistics about problem drinking later in life.

• 7% of 12-year-olds had consumed an entire standard alcoholic beverage
• More than 1/2 of 12-year-olds have already had a sip
• About 1/3 have by age 8

The question for parents will be: 'Does that matter?’

There isn’t much national data on the topic. So the researchers, led by Dr. John E. Donovan, a psychiatrist and epidemiologist at the University of Pittsburgh, used community surveys conducted in Pennsylvania’s Allegheny County. They call it the Tween to Teen Project, from which they've just reported two main findings.

children who said they had tasted alcohol said their parents were OK with it. The parents, in interviews, confirmed their children’s perceptions, indicating at least a common understanding between the parents and their children about alcohol use before the age of 12.Scientists discovered that these children were no more likely than their non-sipping peers to be involved “in other kinds of problem behavior in adolescence.

Donovan and his colleagues aren’t so sure. Other studies have shown that having a sip before 10 leads to having “more than a sip” before age 15. “Early-onset drinking is associated with numerous negative outcomes."

 Ultimately, they say, it’s best to err on the side of caution until more conclusive evidence comes out. "This research suggests that if children do not see their parents as strongly disapproving of child sipping, the children will be more likely to take a first step into alcohol use."

For more information please view the full story here medicaldaily.com

Parental Alcohol Abuse - If your Children Could Choose Would They Choose You?!

This video focuses on "What if children could choose their parents?". It has a very powerful message about 'Parental Alcohol Abuse'. We all know that children can’t choose their parents. But what if they could? Would that change the way we as parents behave?

Last year 52 Children Aged Under 11 Hospitalised With Alcohol Poisoning

Shocking new figures from the Department for Health show that hundreds of children are being rushed to hospital every month with alcohol poisoning, In total nearly 4,000 children were taken to A&E last year (52 of those were under the age of 11)

Sarah Wollaston, chair of the Commons health select committee, warned: “It is a grave risk to young people’s health.”

In total, 3,748 under-18s were admitted to hospital with alcohol poisoning during 2012-13 (more than 300 a month). this has sparked fears of a sharp rise in binge drinking.

Among adults, there were almost 82,500 cases of alcohol poisoning in hospitals last year.