Spring Breaking

You’re here for vacation! So, don’t leave on probation.  This harsh reality is faced every year by so many high school and college kids simply looking for a good time during their spring break.  It’s all fun and games, at first, but when alcohol gets involved even the smartest kid can get carried away and take things too far.

Spring break – ah the best time of the year when you are young.  You get that much needed break from all that cramming and tediousness.  You are about to enter into finals in a few weeks and all you need is this quick, fun break to get your craziness out before you stick your head back in that book.

And what better way to spend your spring break then somewhere warm, perhaps somewhere tropical, and if you’re not 21 yet then most definitely somewhere that doesn’t check ID’s. The best part about spring break is the warm water, living in your bathing suit, and forgetting that you are a future attorney or doctor in the making and for one epic weekend you are just a young, wild, and free kid.

This is where things can go wrong, though. Alcohol can do things to a person, especially a young, inexperienced person.  It can make bad ideas look like the most brilliant idea ever.  It can make you feel invincible in a place that you should perhaps be extra cautious.  And, most importantly, it can give you the poor judgement that will put you behind bars and slapped with all kinds of fines and fees.

“Studies have shown that students who travel on typical spring break trips are far more likely to abuse alcohol and drugs than those who don’t travel. In fact, the average spring break vacationing student consumes 10 drinks per day” (wagnerreese.com).

It’s really no fault of these kids.  Because that is what they are, kids.  They are just looking for a good time and based on their surroundings and what they have seen a good time typically revolves around alcohol.  And I’m not saying that you shouldn’t drink, but drinking is not the only way to have a good time.  Regardless, these kids see fun as being drunk.  By the looks of pictures and videos on social media, maybe they are onto something, #kiddingnotkidding.

Kids are not meant to drink like this, hence the legal age limit law.  Even if you are 21, 22, really in your young 20’s, drinking can be a difficult thing to handle in excess.  You aren’t aware of your limits and you aren’t aware of the consequences.  So, when you see that a typical spring breaker can consume up to 10 drinks per day…. holy guacamole, most fully-grown adults can barely handle that!

“According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, during Spring Break 11% drink to the point of blacking out or passing out. Excessive drinking is responsible for more than 4,300 deaths among underage youth each year” (reyeslaw.com).

I would say so, after having that much alcohol in such a young body – I would black out too and I am a fully grown 30 year old adult.  When you are at this point of inebriation the bad decisions seem to keep rolling in.  Making those conscious choices have now gone out the window, your body is making the choices now, bye, bye brain control.

This is where accidents happen.  You can hurt someone, you can hurt yourself, you can hurt your reputation, and more than all that, you can destroy all hopes of having a bright future.  There have been so many rapes recorded due to alcohol mixed with poor decisions – life breaking.  There have been deaths due to overdose – no coming back from that. There have been arrests due to vandalism and disorderly conduct – can’t get those off your record.  And there have been countless amounts of DUI’s – naturally, alcohol can assist in that.

“The number of alcohol related deaths among teenagers and young adults during spring break trips has jumped by over 13%. In addition to these deaths, there are over 600,000 young people who suffer some type of assault on these vacations, most likely due to the overuse of alcohol and drugs” (wagnerreese.com).

When you drink and then drive you have not only taken your life into your own hands, but you have now put others lives in your direct path.  The amount of deaths due to drunk driving have continued to increase year after year as more spring breakers seem to take the law into their own hands and get behind that wheel.

“Examining fatal wrecks at 14 spring break destinations in seven states, Arizona, California, Florida, Nevada, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia, the study found:”

• Weekly death tolls in the 14 counties studied jumped 9.1 percent during spring break.
• 16 more traffic fatalities annually in the 14 counties.
• Car-crash deaths involving out-of-state motorists were significantly higher than for in-state drivers.
• Fatal wrecks involving drivers under 25 years of age were more likely than deadly crashes connected with older motorists. (reyeslaw.com)

What can we do about this epidemic that has creeped into these kid’s good time? We can educate them; let them know what it means to drink and drive.  We can be good examples for them and show them that alcohol is not the only factor of having a good time.  We can bring awareness into their small world and show them how to avoid these bad decisions.

It is important to have a good time and to make memories as a young adult.  These are the memories that are carried with you for the rest of your life.  Make sure that they are good memories.  Don’t let your fire side story be about how you blacked out and woke up behind bars being told that you were responsible for the death of a person due to drinking and driving.  Those aren’t the memories you want to carry.

Being that Arizona is one of the top 7 spring break destinations make sure that you know the law – and make sure that your kids know the law.  Arizona is a zero tolerance state.  That means that you may not drive no matter how much you have had to drink – yes, even one drink is against the law.

If you don’t know the drinking law where you are going, get on that right now.  You are not going to get a free pass due to ignorance.  And if you do get a DUI, particularly in Arizona, and you need help, give DPX DUI Process a call.  We are a free service that will help walk you through all of the steps in the license regaining process:

• Alcohol Screening
• Counseling classes
• Traffic Survival School
• SR-22 insurance
• Ignition Interlock
• Set Aside.

It can be a long and confusing process and we want to make sure that you make it through as smoothly as possible.  Don’t be afraid or hesitant to call us, we are here for you – (602) 441-9444.