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Stay safe this holiday dont drink and drive
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Linda Ratclife
Published: Nov 30, 2011, 3:09 PM

Many people believe that underage drinking and driving is only a problem on prom night or after graduation, but the latest newsletter from Mothers Against Drunk Driving contradicts that stereotypical belief. While underage drinking and driving definitely are problematic on those two occasions, the night before Thanksgiving actually seems to be the biggest night for underage drinking. According to MADD’s November newsletter, “The fridge and the liquor cabinets are stocked, parents are distracted by relatives and dinner preparations and older siblings or college-age friends are around.”
According to Buzzle.com, “in the past 10 years, deaths of youths (under 21 years) related to drunk driving have decreased by 33 percent. However, even after this substantial decline, around four people from this age group die every day due to drunk driving. Car crashes are the leading cause of death for teens, and one out of three of those is alcohol-related.” 
All 50 states in the United States and Puerto Rico currently apply two statutory (or constitutional) offenses to driving under the influence of
alcohol. The first offense is known either as driving under the influence (DUI), driving while
intoxicated or impaired (DWI), or operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated/impaired (OWI). This is based upon a police officer’s observations (driving behavior, slurred speech, the results of a roadside sobriety test, etc.)
“Illegal per se” — the second offense — is driving with a blood alcohol concentration of 0.08 g/dL or higher, according to www.nhtsa.gov. To drive with a BAC that is 0.08 or higher has been illegal in all 50 states since 2002.
In fatal crashes in 2009, the highest percentage of drivers with a BAC level of .08 (35 percent) were in the 21-24 age group, followed by 32 percent in the 25-34 age group and 26 percent in the 35-44 age group, according to buzzle.com. An average of one alcohol-impaired-driving fatality occurred every 48 minutes in 2009. Fifty-six percent of the drivers involved in fatal crashes who had been drinking had a BAC of .15 or greater. The percentage of drivers with BAC of .08 or above in fatal crashes was highest for motorcycle riders.
The three most critical skills necessary for safe driving — judgment, vision and reaction — critically are impaired when partygoers mix alcohol and driving. This is possible even when blood alcohol levels are well below the legal limit.
According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, during the past 10 years, alcohol-related crashes killed an estimated 170,000 people and injured nearly 5 million others at a cost to taxpayers and the economy of more than $51 billion. At this rate, one in three Americans can expect to be involved in an alcohol-related crash in their lifetime.
Drunk driving is a crime that occurs because a person elects to make irresponsible choices. Alcohol affects people differently at different times. These differences depend on things such as what a person has eaten (or not eaten), their level of fatigue, metabolism or mood. Drunk driving is not an accident — it’s a conscious choice
Some people mistakenly believe that drinking one type of alcohol is better than another. The truth is that 12 ounces of beer, five ounces of wine and a one and a half-ounce shot of liquor all have about the same amount of alcohol. Normally, the body eliminates alcohol at a rate of about one drink per hour, but partygoers who stand around and drink often take in more alcohol that they realize, making it hard for the body to eliminate it at that level.
December is National Drunk and Drugged Driving Prevention Month. Listed below are some tips to keep you and others safe during the holidays:
• Parents should remember that providing alcohol to a minor is a felony and can result in fines of up to $1,500, up to 18 months in jail or both. And any minor caught with alcohol will face a fine and a suspension of their driver’s license.
• If you plan to drink, designate a non-drinking driver ahead of time, take a cab or make reservations at a nearby hotel and spend the night. Remember to consume food, sip drinks and alternate alcoholic drinks with non-alcoholic beverages. Don’t ride with anyone who has been drinking to the point of impairment.
• If hosting a party where alcohol is being served, check with guests to see if they have a designated driver. Don’t let impaired guests drive. Arrange for rides for guests who appear impaired or keep them at your home.
• Serve a variety of food and non-alcoholic beverages at your party.

Ratcliffe is a consultant to the Coastal Health District. Call her at 876-6399.

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From the book 'Outliers' comes proof that good health is more than just genetics
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Friends Jim Young, left, Mike Natale, Jeff Natale and Ryan Kiernan were on Greenwich High School football team together and Jim and Mike were captains. Jim, who was the youngest in Sherry Young's family, was welcome in the homes of the other three boys who still had siblings around and grandparents near. - photo by Sherry Young
Sherry Young
Deseret News
Published: Apr 12, 2018, 12:59 PM
As I look back on my life and the lives of others, both personally and in the reading I have done, I am convinced of the necessity of positive human contact in our lives. We are doubly blessed when we are able to make good friends or are a part of a family where we are accepted and loved.

Malcolm Gladwell in his book Outliers tells of a time in the 1950s when Dr. Stewart Wolf met a physician who practiced in the area of Roseto, Pennsylvania. Roseto was settled by a group of Italian families from Roseto, Italy, who re-created their life again in America.

This was in the 1950s before drugs and measures to prevent heart disease became important. In their conversation the physician said, You know, Ive been practicing for 17 years. I get patients from all over, and I rarely find anyone from Roseto under the age of 65 with heart disease.

Wolf was surprised by these words as, It was impossible to be a doctor, common sense said, and not see heart disease.

Wolf enlisted the aid of a sociologist and friend John Bruhn to help him. They found, There was no suicide, no alcoholism, no drug addiction, and very little crime. They didnt have anyone on welfare. Then we looked at peptic ulcers. They didnt have any of those either. These people were dying of old age. Thats it.

They checked into diet, genetics and possibilities of something in the foothills of eastern Pennsylvania but nothing made sense.

What they found was that Rosetans visited one another, stopping to chat in Italian on the street, say, or cooking for one another in their backyards. (Researchers) learned about the extended family clans that underlay the towns social structure. They saw how many homes had three generations living under one roof and how much respect grandparents commanded. They went to Mass at Our Lady of Mount Carmel and saw the unifying and calming effect of the church. They counted 22 separate civic organizations in a town of just under 2,000 people. They picked up on the particular egalitarian ethos of the community, which discouraged the wealthy from flaunting their success and helped the unsuccessful obscure their failures.

What they found eventually convinced the medical establishment to look beyond the individual and understand the culture people are part of their friends, families and town they came from. They determined that the people we surround ourselves with and the values of the world we inhabit have a profound effect on who we are.

Likely, this study could have been done with other ethnicities. However, my family's experiences with the Italian families in Connecticut ring true to the study. Our hungry and growing sons, especially our youngest son, Jim, who was left home alone with two beady-eyed parents, all had some memorable experiences being fed and loved in the Cos Cob multigenerational families. Proof of the African proverb, It takes a village to raise a child.

We live in an age when the contact we have with people often is on the internet, and many of us live among strangers. Unless we make the effort to reach out, we will become isolated, especially as we age. The Rosetan study is proof that reaching out and communicating may be good for our health.
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