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SADD's Sad Statistics

Landers, A. SADD president sends in some sad statistics.

The following is quoted from an Ann Landers column:

Dear Ann Landers,

I am a 17-year-old high school president and president of SADD (Students Against Drunk Driving)...I thought your readers should see some statistics from 1983 U.S. Health and Human Services and 1982 FBI files.

Alcohol is involved in

  • 66% of fatal accidents.
  • 70% of all murders.
  • 41% of assaults.
  • 53% of fire deaths.
  • 50% of rapes.
  • 60% of sex crimes against children.
  • 60% of child abuse.
  • 56% of fights and assaults in homes (Landers thinks higher).
  • 37% of suicides.
  • 55% of all arrests.
  • 36% of pedestrian accidents.
  • 22% of home accidents.
  • 45% of drownings.
  • 50% of skiing accidents.

Alcohol is also responsible for more admissions to mental hospitals than any other cause.

Alcohol is involved in 50% of all traffic accidents each year. More than 25,000 people are killed and one million seriously injured because of alcohol. Alcohol is the number one killer of people under the age of 25. In this day and age it seems dumb to have people dying because they could not say no to alcohol or simply could not ask for a ride home.

IMPLICATIONS

  1. The data and conclusion of this high school student seem sound. The letter urges response from other students. Good leaders and teachers ought to elicit such responses.
  2. Alcohol can be a form of self-medication, escape, and/or addiction. Drinking can cover other problems. Experience shows that, in most cases, personal addiction to alcohol must be treated before other problems may be addressed. Society should work to eliminate alcoholism. Yet, ridding the world of alcohol will not solve the problems listed in the statistics above. People will still find other ways to maim and kill themselves and others.
  3. Young people need to learn to say no to anything self-destructive or injurious to others. Conversely, they must work on saying yes to things that lead to growth, love, and self-worth.
  4. Youth workers have an excellent opportunity to deal with the theological aspects of this problem and its cure.
Dean Borgman cCYS
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