A teenager’s first driving experience can be a scary one. An even scarier thought is of young, inexperienced drivers taking the roads while under the influence of alcohol. According to the Center for Disease Control, motor vehicle accidents are the leading cause of teenage deaths. One fourth of these accidents involve impaired driving due to alcohol consumption.

A child’s brain is changing and rewiring until the age of 21. This is why we hold off until that age for it to be legal to have your first drink. It is obvious that many teenagers are drinking before reaching that age. Whatever one’s stance on the matter of underage drinking, everyone must agree that drinking and driving is a serious and non-negotiable issue.

Picture yourself later in life, driving home from your daughter’s dance recital with the entire family in the car. You look back for just a second, to calm your other crying child. When you turn forward your eyes are blinded by headlights coming towards you. Your life flashes before you as you brace for a head-on collision. You are not at fault; the teenager in the other car thought he or she was “okay to drive” that night.

If this happened to you, do you think you would ever get behind the wheel of a car after drinking again? Now what if you were the one to hit the family? Would you still think you were “okay to drive?” You also may read that scenario and think “that would never happen to me.” But, the researchers at MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) state that each day almost 300,000 people drive drunk in the U.S., yet less than 4,000 are arrested. And, 4,700 people are killed each year due to teen alcohol use, which is more than all illegal drugs combined. Teenagers may have their reasons to justify why they choose to drink underage, but nothing can justify what made them want to drive that night. After consuming any amount of alcohol you are never “okay to drive.”

Don’t drive if you have been drinking. If someone else is driving, don’t get in the car if they have been drinking. It’s not worth your life or someone else’s. One quick drive home when you or your driver was “okay to drive” can change your entire life. The stories and statistics show that underage drinking and driving causes death, and is a growing problem in our country, a problem that is completely preventable.