Drinking and driving is a hazardous combination.  As a result, penalties for drinking and driving are strict.  The bottom line is:  No one should consume alcohol and drive, because everyone's safe driving ability deteriorates after drinking - even minimally.  Teen drivers, especially, lose their driving skills more quickly.

Consider these facts as published in You and the Drinking Driving Laws by the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles:

• One third of the fatalities in New York State involve impaired or intoxicated drivers and pedestrians
• With increased Blood Alcohol Content (BAC), crash risk increases sharply. A driver with a BAC of 0.08 is four times as likely to cause a crash as a driver who has not been drinking, while a driver with a BAC of 0.16 is 25 times as likely to do so.
• Young drinking drivers are at the highest risk of all. Drivers 20 years old or younger are almost three times as likely to be involved in alcohol-related fatal crashes than other drivers.